


One-shots of MC Ships

by Silberspeckles



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: All the gay ships, M/M, The first chapters are trash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2020-10-18 03:10:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20632121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silberspeckles/pseuds/Silberspeckles
Summary: It's on Wattpad but I only post what I think is better on hereWe got:Skephalo- 10/10 best wholesome ship.ZelkPvP- Really good AU called Soul Seeking, also mute Mega is amazing in fanfic fite me.You can also request, I am A okay with that too.





	1. Requests

That's...um, that's it.

Requests.

If you have requests comment them.

I-it's like, there's a little box in the corner...and you-you_ click_ it. Y'know?

And then after you comment, you wait ten years for my motivation to wake up and tell me to get my shit together.

Alright, thanks bye <3


	2. Minecraft Monday

3rd Person Prov.  
“OH, MY GOODNESS I LOVE YOU SKEPPYYYY! WE WON. WE WON. WE WON. YESSSSSSSS. OH, MY GOODNESS IF YOU WERE NEXT TO ME, I WOULD KISS YOU RIGHT NOW. YEEEEESSSSSSSS!”  
Something snapped inside of him. Maybe it was because he trolled Daryll too much in the past few days and wasn’t really giving their relationship attention (Though to be fair, Daryll respected him and gave him the space he wanted). Maybe it was because it now dawned on him that Daryll was right next door. He sat there for a while, processing what Daryll had said. They never kissed before, just confessed and every so often cuddled… A few more minutes passed by. Deciding what to do, he abruptly got up, banging his knees on his desk in the process, threw down his headphones, and stormed out the door.  
~~

  
Daryll, now calmed down from his high, looked into his facecam and thanked his watchers for supporting him and donating. He giggled as he flew around taking screenies with several different people. Looking at his chat he saw that a small group of people were pointing out that Zak had been completely silent after he had that little outburst.  
“D-don’t worry muffins, I’m sure he’s-” The sound of a door slamming open cuts him off. The chat went insane when Daryll’s head jerked to the side indicating it was his door. Even more when Zak stormed into the camera’s view and dragged Daryll out of view by the side of his hoodie. So far, their fans didn’t even know they lived together- not to mention the fact that Daryll was slightly in view of the camera still.

  
“Zak! What is-” His voice was cut off by an unknown force, and the chat could only infer what happened. A few minutes passed by in which Daryll and Zak moved out of the room. (Which was told by the door opening and closing.) Both streams now yelling that the Skephalo ship was now in full sail was interrupted by the iconic robotic voice of TeamSpeak.

  
Y.O.U.W.E.R.E M.O.V.E.D I.N.T.O. T.H.E. C.H.A.N.N.E.L

  
After that, the voice of Dave and Vincent filtered through the streams.  
“Since the two nerds decided to make it very clear they are not going to close their streams before they start making out.” Started a very amused and annoyed Technoblade.  
“We decided we are going to end it for them. Good night everyone!” Finished A6d with his thick French accent. And before they knew it, the stream went offline.

(Quick explanation for the logical people out there that are probably triggered. You may be wondering “How can Vincent and Dave close Zak and Daryll’s stream?”. Well, since they are all friends between each other, they have access to each other’s YouTube channels. They made Zak promise not to use the access for trolls. So, Vincent and Dave simply logged into their YouTube channels and stopped their streams. No Vincent and Dave do not live with Daryll and Zak)  
Everything that happened from Daryll’s point of view

Daryll’s Prov.

  
“OH, MY GOODNESS I LOVE YOU SKEPPYYYY! WE WON. WE WON. WE WON. YESSSSSSSS. OH, MY GOODNESS IF YOU WERE NEXT TO ME, I WOULD KISS YOU RIGHT NOW. YEEEEESSSSSSSS!”  
I shout happily not realizing what I said. Rambling on and on about how grateful I am for having such a supportive fan base I bounce around the map proudly taking screenshots of our names on the leaderboard and other YouTubers. Looking over at my chat I make note of fixing my face camera, it seemed to look a little crooked. It was overflowing with hearts, claps, fourteens, and Japanese Symbols. I feel a soft smile crawling onto my face when I see some people remark that now we have to buy 100 muffins. That smile quickly turns into a blush when I see messages chatter about what I said before. My mind gets pulled away from that when I see a coordinated group of concerned people all type that Zak went quiet after I yelled that.  
“D-don’t worry muffins, I’m sure he’s-”

Suddenly my door slams open and my head darts to who bothered to interrupt my stream. A wave of confusion washes over me when I see Zak standing in the doorway. I take a moment to admire, while he does look a little angry, or maybe determined, he also looks adorable. Zak walks over to me and drags me out of my chair and to the side of the camera by the side of my hoodie. As soon as I turned around, I was prepared to ask him what is going on and why is he storming in during streaming.

  
“Zak! What is-” My mind goes blank. He pulls me into a kiss so starved for attention you would think I’ve ignored him for weeks on end. His hands desperately latch onto my collar in order to hold himself up and I lean back a little so he can push himself into me. [A/N: I see you…WE WILL HAVE NONE OF THAT] I gently pull away from him and let him catch his breath frantically trying to keep his voice quiet. We stare at each other for a bit before coming to a silent agreement.

I guide Zak outside of my room and into the hallway connecting our rooms.I hastily lead Zak further away from both of our streams just in case, and as soon as I judged we were far enough, abruptly tuned around and engulfed Zak in a kiss. Zak immediately melted into me and I leaned against the wall for support. His hands drift up and feebly catch my hoodie in an attempt to pull himself closer. I let one hand gently rest on his shoulder blade to help support him. Zak lets go for barely a second to recover a gulp of air before replacing his lips on mine. Without thinking my other hand reaches to run through his hair. Which causes his shoulders to drop in pleasure. The need for air was killing me so gently tug his hair as a sign that I need to breathe. He pulls away, and I struggle to catch my breath. His hazel eyes stare straight into mine as if he’s trying to answer a question he doesn’t know.

  
“That was…” I trail off trying to find the correct words. He waits and I didn’t know what to say until I see his eyes are full of fear. “Hey, hey muffin, what’s up?” I say softly hoping for an explanation.

  
“I-I don’t know why- I’m sorry- I didn’t- I ruined- I-” He continues to start and stop sentences and I gently trace his cheek.

  
“Zak you didn’t ruin anything.” I murmur. “The stream can wait. I did say I would kiss you” A small grin was forming on my face realizing that me saying that probably threw Zak over the top.  
“Y-Yeah but I-I-I could’ve waited! Or-or-“

  
“Zak.” I say sternly. He glares at me determined to prove that it was his fault.

  
“No! I-“ I cut him off my pecking his lips.

  
“Muffin, Minecraft Monday doesn’t even come close to the sheer satisfaction of what you just did, you know that?” I smile softly hoping that will convince Zak.

  
“Promise?”

  
“Promise.”

  
He lunges into my chest and stays there buried in my hoodie. I giggle and sit down, still in the hallway.  
“Should I text Vincent and Dave to turn off our streams?” I ask already knowing the answer. I feel Zak smile as he turns his head to look at me.

  
“Yes, give them more work.” He laughs.


	3. Rainy Days

(They’re not dating yet| I ONLY SHIP THEIR GENERAL CHARACTERS NOT THE ACTUAL PEOPLE I SWEAR)-Pls don’t hate me)  
Zak’s Prov. 

I watch the rain pour down from the sky. The heavy sheets of gray clouds cover the sun’s domain as if trying to shield it from seeing the world below. Sitting on the window sill is pretty fun in my opinion. You get to contemplate life and what it’s worth. Daryll went to get some food and I just don’t feel like doing anything so I decided to just...hang around...I guess. My gaze flicks between focus. Back and forth. Raindrops on the window, dripping down the side. Down to the two hydrogen and one oxygen atom making up the molecules that stick together and create a thin stream that you have to squint to see. Or, to focus on the outside world? The trees bending down to the rains’ will, and swaying in the wind spreading the downpour. Being this... poetic isn’t what I usually do, but listening to harp music while looking out the window is... hypnotizing. 

I hear the door close gently downstairs, but I jump anyway. “Zak?” I hear Daryll call softly. “I’m back!”. I feel a blush climbing up my face but I quickly fight it back down. Ignoring him, I turned my attention back to the scene outside. A few minutes pass in which I can only guess Daryll spent putting away the groceries, from the soft crinkling of the plastic bags and the opening of the fridge. 

I pull my sleeves over my hands and again, try to focus my attention on the lightning boom. Resuming the gentle music, it flows through my earbuds, lulling me into a tired state. Leaning back into the wall I close my eyes and paint a picture of the rainstorm- now thunderstorm- in my mind. 

The gray clouds cast a sense of foreboding over everything below it, along with the sun shining above the sheet. The rain running through the air, almost as if it was part of it… The harp playing through my earbuds breaks through the picture, notes intertwining with the water droplets making them elegant but still in a way reckless. Painting and drawing so many things, trees, buildings, individual water drops, but all of them as if they were stuck in time… Daryll’s voice shocked me out of my trance. “Hey, Zak?” His head popped up from the trap door leading to the attic. “Vince told me you might be here.” He says with a smile.

I don’t turn my head to look at him but he knows I’m aware he’s here. I sense a presence behind me and I stiffen as I feel Daryll’s hands curl around me. “Come on muffin, I brought food.” He murmurs, his head buried in my shoulder. I subconsciously lean into him but I quickly catch myself and jerk forward. I hear him chuckle softly and I feel my body being pulled up. I yelp and try to scramble out of his grip, making him laugh. “One second you muffin” . He sits down on the windowsill with me in his lap. “If you’re not going to come down then I’ll stay with you” His voice drifts through my music quietly and washes over me like a wave. I blush but really, I’m too tired to do anything, so I just let my back curl into him.   
We sit like that for a while until I decide that Daryll was probably listening to silence long enough. Pausing my music, I pull out one of my earbuds and gently put it in Daryll’s ear. I adjust it until I’m sure he can hear me and the sound and I turn the music back on. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Daryll blink at the calmness practically radiating from the harp playing. “You know…” I trail off not knowing where my words were taking me. “I really like you, like, love you.” The words fall out of my mouth like they’re supposed to. I don’t realize I just confessed until Daryll’s soft voice reaches me. “Really?” His voice sounded small but amused and somewhat awed. I stiffen, what did I just say? I try to push away from him and apologize profusely, the spell of the storm outside broken. “I-I I didn’t- Oh god, I’m sorry I didn’t-” I stumble over my words desperately trying to recover my dignity. 

Daryll catches my hand and forces me back into his lap. “Hey, hey muffin, you’re fine. Listen to me.” His voice goes completely over my head and I continue to ramble. “I swear I didn’t- I don’t- God I’m so sorry-” His hand gently glides over my mouth and cuts me off. “Oh my goodness, muffin listen to me, I love you. Hear that? I. Love. You.” 

Darylls Prov.

“I. Love.You.” I emphasized the ‘love’ part to get him to calm down. Pulling his arms up and over his head, I turn him to face me. “Love you” . I state confidently. His hazel eyes are filled with shock and disbelief. “So much...” I breathe getting lost in his eyes. Brown and lighter shades of it swirl around mixing and blending to form the color I’ve known to adore. Even his pupils are shining with hope and dare I think, love. What’s different than any normal hazel eye you might see is, Zak has ice blue flecks scattered along his. Shining and cold, but that’s not what the rest of him says. The rest of him says...I kiss him.

I feel him melt into me without hesitation. He trusted me. I let him climb on top of me but I keep my hand through his hair to keep him from being dominant. Both of his small ones (His hands) grasp my shirt desperately, like he was going to fall off if I don’t support him. I pull away for a quick second to adjust my position and before I knew it, his lips were on mine again. He was hungry for attention. He wanted to be noticed. Zak seemed like he wanted so many things. His hands tighten when I gently led my tongue through his mouth, and hesitantly touch his. A few seconds pass of us maneuvering around each others mouths until I decide I’ve had enough. Knowing full on that we need air, I forcefully, but carefully curl my tongue around his. His hand scrambles for a valid holding place and settles for gripping my hair tightly.

At first I couldn’t believe my ears but, I could hear his voice soft and weak when he pulled away. “Love you so much...” He trails off and resorts to resting his head in the crook of my neck and hums contently.


	4. Insomnia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zak can't sleep, and is basically breaking down. Daryll will not stand for this.

*Trigger Warning*  
Panic attacks, but there's comforting.

It was 3' o clock in the morning. And Zak couldn't sleep. In fact, even if he could sleep, which would be a miracle, he couldn't because he was sitting on his gaming chair, with his headset on listening to Daryll tell a heart-felt tale about a...Muffin? He was listening, but he had to act like he wasn't because of the stream anyway. (It would be something Daryll would tell a story about.)

Frustration was the main thing on his mind at that particular moment, because insomnia was not something fun to deal with, especially when you haven't been able to sleep in nearly a month. He'd been basically living off of Red Bull and other energy drinks, -with the exception of eating actual food during the day- and ended up streaming late into the night as a nasty side effect. (With his friends joining occasionally.) This was one of those times.

The lack of sleep also had a general effect on his personality. The videos posted daily, turned into the streams mentioned earlier, and Zak was turning more and more quiet, as the energy collected from the drinks was used more to help his body move. The quirky comments, annoyingness, and trolls weren't considered top priority to maintain. They were extras that could be obtained if the body was well rested, and in Zak's predicament, they weren't going to come back anytime soon.

To be completely honest, Zak doesn't think he remembers the last time he had a functioning sleep schedule. He vaguely recalls talking to Daryll about it on one of the streams he did, but even then, he was so tired he had to drink a whole can of Red Bull to stay awake during that single conversation. (The other had been talking to him about the plan to move in with each other Dave, and Vincent since Zak had brought it up)

Daryll finished his story and was halfway through asking Zak if he should see if the other two were on TeamSpeak when he heard a thump that was followed by a curse. "Language, muffin. Are you okay?" He asked, worry eminent in his voice. "Yeah, I'm fine I just..." Zak trailed off, picking himself up from the floor with difficulty. He had fallen off his chair while thinking about how great it would be to get some sleep. Daryll was more interested however, in how soft Zak's voice was. He had noticed over the course of the last few weeks, that Zak was getting increasingly tired. His voice became softer, quieter, and- worryingly- weaker. When Zak's head popped back into view from the face-cam he had on his stream, Daryll analyzed his face, and that only confirmed his worries more.

Zak had such dark bags under his eyes, you would think he was wearing eye shadow.

"Okay, be careful...Hey, Zak?"

"Yeah?"

"I know this seems kinda sudden but, have you been getting sleep?"

"..."

Zak seemed to freeze. Daryll could see his body tense, but only for a second before Zak quickly responded. "Yeah! Of course, I'm just a night owl yknow?" He chuckled nervously. Daryll nodded and apologized for the sudden question, to which Zak simply brushed off.

Daryll didn't forget about it though. Actually, far from it. When the stream ended, he signed off Minecraft, and waited a little before deciding he should talk to Vincent about his worries. He suspected that Zak hadn't been sleeping due to the overworking of streaming or videos, but the theory was quickly eliminated when he saw that Zak hadn't posted in almost a week, which wasn't normal for the troll. Daryll wonder what had changed the daily uploads into almost weekly. When he reached Vincent's room on the other side of the mansion that he, Dave, Zak, and Vincent all paid for. (They were planning to do a Collab Vlog to show their viewers that they were all living together, but never got around to scheduling a date yet.)

Turning the knob, Daryll poked his head in the doorway to see if the French Man was awake. Vincent was sitting at his desk (probably watching anime) and jerked his head up when he saw Daryll in his side vision.

"Ah! Daryll, hello!" He greeted, the French accent in his voice thick. Daryll smiled in return and proceeded to ask if he was interrupting anything. To which Vincent declined, not because he wasn't busy, because he was (Watching anime), but he could see a panicked gay when he saw one. He had had that moment many times with Dave [Yes Techno6d, why? I have no idea. I'm going to lave it at that] and Daryll had gladly helped him when he needed advice, so he was eager to return that favor.

*With Zak*

He'd been trying to sleep for four hours. He hated this. Everything about this. His mind was too sleep-deprived to think straight (Not that he was straight to begin with). Why. Why was this his life. He was so tired. He wanted to, Go. To. Sleep. But he couldn't. Because of his goddamn insomnia. He wanted to cry. But he's done it enough to know that crying won't help him sleep quicker. He tried to take medicine, but immediately recoiled at the thought of taking something that might put him to sleep forever. He knew that the fear was irrational, and death would only be if he overdosed, but he still worried. And his worries were strong enough to overpower the logical solution to the problem.

But right now, was when the thinking phase of his night begins. This was the time when the repercussions for everything he did to other people, start to take their toll on his train of thought. Specifically, the times he trolled Daryll. All the times he rejected a nice gesture from him, set his server on fire, made him flustered, made him yell, made him loose his composure...All the times he said sorry without meaning.

And the fact that he liked Daryll doesn't make the feeling better. He wanted to curl up into a hole and sob his heart out because right now, he was in such a helpless state that he wouldn't even be surprised if he broke down. And so, he did. Pulling at his hair to try and remind himself that his physical existence was still there, Zak pulled his knees up to his chest, and sat there. Trembling violently. Thoughts of all the bad things he'd done invading his head.

And then Daryll opened the door, only to freeze in shock at the mess of blankets pillows thrown around the room...and the ball of tears in the middle of it all. Daryll didn't even register what he was doing until Zak was in his arms and was still gripping at his hair for some unknown reason that Daryll was determined to find. First things first, he had to regulate Zak's breathing and stop the tears flowing down his cheeks.

"Zak, muffin, can you hear me? I need you to follow my instructions, okay?", Zak made no form of acknowledging Daryll's presence and that made him worry even more. Pestering Zak wouldn't do any of them any good, so after two more attempts of trying to gently coax the stricken boy to listen to him, he decided that he would have to use some other tactic to help him.

Slowly, he removed Zak's hands from his hair, in which he struggled to do without accidentally tugging it because, his hair was so messy and curly and soft and beau- he cut his thoughts off. The point was that Zak was so desperate to hold on to something that when Daryll finally managed to extract his hands from his hair, they immediately went to grip onto something else, which happened to be Daryll's hoodie.

What was even more amusing [To the 3rd person perspective, not Daryll] was that Daryll didn't even consciously register the action. He simply went to the next step which was to wrap his arms around the trembling boy, trace patterns on his back, and run his fingers through his hair, while muttering encouraging words for him to calm down. After a good ten minutes of the motions Zak breathing pattern seemed to have regulated to its best ability, but once Daryll called out Zak's name quietly as to not disturbed him, the unstable boy's breath hitched violently and tears streamed down his cheeks faster, soaking Daryll's hoodie.

Zak was completely lost for how to communicate to Darryl. He couldn't speak. He couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't think. All the things he had ever done to ridicule Daryll- even if he never had the intention of hurting him in any way shape or form- came crashing down on him. He made Daryll, Lose. His. Mind. And here he was, trying to reach out to him and comfort him. He didn't deserve to have him as a friend. He didn't deserve to like him either, but you can't control feelings.

His mind had gotten a grasp of what was going on after he finally surfaced from his spiral into numbness, and realised that someone was holding him and trying to speak to him. Recognizing the voice, he wanted to push away. Why would Daryll help him? All the trolls, all the pranks...all the times he pushed Daryll to the point of exhaustion. Sure, he had always checked in with him after, and not once had Daryll not forgiven him for the mayhem he caused. He's too nice, too forgiving. It was why Zak liked him, and why he didn't deserve him at the same time.

He was terrible. He was terrible. He was terrible. He was-

.

.

.

.

.

And then Zak stopped. Because Daryll had pulled him so close that him that his head was right next to the blonde's shoulder and all the words he was muttering before were now filled with more concern before, and he could tell that he was trying so hard to not ask what had happened, but even with his efforts, a question like, "What happened?" or "Is this because of a stream or something?" would slip into the chaos only to be quickly overlapped by an apology or more encouraging words, to follow his breathing.

He wanted to push away from him. Tell him that nothing happened. That he was sorry. But any and all thoughts involving denying Daryll an explanation were banished when he caught among the fray of words "Is this my fault?". The question was overlooked by the other, but Zak would not stand for his. He may not have the most stable mindset but hearing that Daryll would blame himself for his insomnia would not be allowed. Not here. Not in another world. Not in another dimension. Hell, not even in candad.

Weakly, he pushed his head into Daryll's chest to try and gain his attention. Which worked immediately. Daryll quickly told him to take a deep breath, hold it for three seconds and then let it out slowly. To, in return, Zak obeyed, breath shaky and constantly hitching while doing so. Calming down from his tears and rapid breathing, Daryll's voice reaching Zak's hearing once again. "No pressure muffin, you don't have to tell me right now what happened. For now, I just want to know if you are okay." He thought for a bit before adding quickly, "I'm staying here until you feel comfortable with telling someone though. If not me, I can go get someone else." Zak weakly shook his head, at both, to signal that he was fine with just the muffin lover, but also at how considerate Daryll was, trying to restrain himself from asking too many questions.

"Sorry" Zak whispered, still half-unsure how he could talk at all. Daryll denied his apology saying that he had nothing to be sorry for, and that what was important right now was that he was okay, which comforted Zak, in the way that he knew that at least he could relax without his thoughts pestering him.

The boy was fragile in Daryll's arms, he would've never guessed this was the same person who laughed constantly and made jokes to symbolize his feelings, which were always positive. What had caused him to break down this hard? Did this have something to do with him? The questions he wanted to ask were possibly endless, which was why Daryll pushed the thoughts away as his attention, only distracted for a few seconds was drawn back to Zak, who was trying to breath evenly and failing miserably without Daryll's guidance pattern.

Gently, Daryl apologized and started the sequence again while soft combing his fingers though Zak's hair. (He marveled at the softness of it, and how Zak seemed to come undone when he did) The technique worked marvels and soon enough Zak slowly explained why he was the way he was. Evidence of sleep loss was plastered around Zak's room in the form of empty energy drink cans stuffed in the trash can his recording desk, and the mess of blankets and pillows scattering his floor so, Daryll wasn't too surprised to hear that Zak had lost "a little" bit of sleep. What he was surprised about, was to hear that this "little" loss of sleep had been going on for, One. Month.

He was angry. Angry beyond belief. But he couldn't blame for Zak having an irrational fear against the medicine. He had a fear of planes after all. He cradled Zak's trembling body and made of note of how small he was. It was almost amusing how someone so much shorter than him had such a big impact on him. How his heart fluttered when he laughed, and how it sank to the bottom of the earth when he saw the boy sobbing on his bed.

He continued to comb through Zak's hair when he saw the smaller's ear [I have a head-cannon sort of thing where humans can have their ears twitch kinda like animals, I don't think you can do this in real life :/ ] twitch when his hair combed through a specific spot of his hair. Thinking he was in discomfort Daryll made an attempt to remove his hand only to be stopped by a small whimper from the other which made him blink in confusion. Zak meekly raised his head, knocked it into his hand and plopped his head back into Daryll's chest. Zak had sunk down from his original position making it easier for Daryll to rake his fingers through the raven hair and now he understood why.

He moved backwards to get comfortable, towing Zak with him, and once he was sure both were comfortable muttered a quick but sweet,

"Get some rest muffin, you're probably really tired". (Zak's head was hurting, but the thought of getting sleep, and being curled up in Daryll's lap while doing so would make him squeal in happiness if he hadn't had a mental breakdown.)

A small thank you was hear from the slightly less shaking figure, when Daryll's hand joined Zak's hand and the older [I made Darryl older by one year, but I made their birthdays close. I keep justifying what I'm writing >->] chuckled softly.

"For what, comforting you, or for the hand?"

"Both." Zak grumbled back, his demeanor coming back a small bit from the remark (Though Daryll could still clearly catch the tremble in his voice). Daryll smiled, glad to have a response when he wasn't expecting one, and- with full acknowledgement that Zak was still awake- pecked the others cheek before whispering a goodnight. 

Extra:

Zak, debated for the next minute whether he should scream at the lungs, because his crush had just kissed him (indirectly) or whether he should return the peck. Daryll, was questioning where in the world had he gotten the courage to do that and was screaming internally at himself for making the atmosphere somewhat tense.

-Daryll's internal screaming stopped abruptly when he felt Zak's lips graze his nose for a few mili-seconds before a very Zak buried himself into the only blanket Daryll had covered them in, and a small "Goodnight, Baldboyhalo" reached his ears. Then they both proceeded to cuddle with each other until both Vincent and Dave decided that if they were going to sleep until four in the afternoon, then they were going to regret leaving their phones outside of their rooms.


	5. Utopia

(Inspired by: The Giver by Lois Lowry. Written the way it totally should've happened. i.e., with tons of gay shit, a mute Giver, and the bad guy actually being smart. Also, people fight with technological bows and swords bc their army is drones. 

The -- separates different scenes that don't come one after another. I just kinda jumped around.)

-Skephalo-

Zak opened his eyes and yawned. The groggy feeling of waking up was vaguely bugging him. Getting up, he trudged over to his desk and slammed his hand on it.

A beep resounded and a mechanical voice answered, "Check in: Year 18, Day 41. Complete." Zak blinked. Slowly.

Damn, He felt old.

He laughed jovially at the revelation, but there was something a little off about it. As if he was just doing it for show. No matter. Grabbing his clothes, the short man darted out the door, excited for the day ahead of him.

However, as soon as he stepped outside and got onto his bicycle, his path was hard to follow. He knew that. Nobody could follow him, the actions he did were forbidden anyway. It's not like they had a good sense of good spots to keep the spying cameras. He met two people that the cameras couldcapture though.

One of which was named Vincent. Look though the records. He the V-12 before he got his name. Now he has a simple job. Giving out knowledge. Anyone that wanted information, they got it from him. He's suspicious. In school, he constantly got in trouble with Z-14. He never initiated the first challenge though...Please investigate this further.

The second one. Darryl. That one is a little complicated. D-11 before the name was issued. Always a stickler for the rules...but he still managed to lose his Crystal. Clear. Record. All for that boy...

"Continue investigating, follow whatever lead they give us. Just find out what's happening to my world."

"Miss!"

"What is it, researcher?"

"We got it."

"What?"

"We uncovered their secret."

\--

Zak biked as fast as his legs could pedal him, to The Givers house. Shifting his weight from one side to the other impatiently as he waited for the door to open. His emotions were jumbled and frazzled, probably from the experience last night. Could you blame him? I mean, he just had a talk with him about the whole mind controlling thing and he just...understood. Darryl was just...amazing. His mind slowed down as soon as Darryl entered his thoughts.

Darryl.

Perfect.

Right.

The door slammed open, and Zak was pulled in immediately.

[Good, you're here.] signed The Giver. Zak blinked at the sudden urgency but didn't speak anything of it. He peeked around him and noticed a familiar face.

"Zelkam?" He asked, astonished that the head of the Battle Regimen System was casually sitting behind The Giver, like he was allowed in the house.

"Hey Zak." He greeted softly, but tone slightly piercingly causing The Giver to flinch slightly.

[Watch your voice] his hands snapped. Zelkam only giggled in response.

Zak watched them bicker almost flawlessly between each other and was astonished at the way The Giver- Mega (He's insisted him to call him.) was so easily warmed to the idea of another person in the house. He was already hostile when Zak entered the house. Even more so, after their mentor "died" unexpectedly.

They all knew what happened and swore it in to secrecy until they decided to let their closest ones in on the prank that is their lives.

Speaking of non-trusting, Zak was experiencing that to a certain degree. I mean- how suspicious is it that the leader of the Battle Regimen just came to casually sit in the house of The Giver, which is forbidden to anyone except he and his apprentice.

"What exactly are you doing here Zelk?" He asked somewhat keeping his distance. Zelk's face grew graven. "We have a problem, and I had to tell The Give-" Mega elbowed him. "Sorry Mega. I had to tell Mega about it." Zelk corrected bopping the mute on the head.

Zak tilted his face and frowned slightly. "A problem?" He echoed. Zelk nodded and took a deep breath.

"It's Mephista. She's onto you guys."

Mega stiffened instantly and shot from the couch running through the library of books surrounding them.

[SHIT, I thought we had more time.] He signed hastily to the pair standing below him. He grabbed another book, looked at it briefly, and proceeded to throw it over his shoulder, the book clearly not making his standards.

"Me too...." Zak trails off, downtrodden but certainly not discouraged. He sucks in a breath and lets it out slowly.

"Do you know the gravity of the situation?" He asked the man next to him. This was the moment of truth. If Zelk says yes, but not really, then he's a traitor and lied without truly knowing what a deep hole he dug them in. If he says yes, and actually knows what he's talking about, then they're saved because that means Zelk will fight alongside them. If he says no, then they're also safe, but only for a short while before Mephista will send him after them.

"Yeah, Mega told me." He clarified.

Zak's face broke into a sunny grin.

"Welcome to the team then?" He asked excitedly.

"No one touches Mega." He pauses, "unless they have a death wish." Mega's face flew into a deep blush, and Zelk grinned like a madman, along with Zak whose gaze flicked between them amused and teasing.

"Cool." He replied.

\--

Zak threw himself in front of Darryl, who dragged Mega away from the scene of Zelk, Dave, Vincent, and Dream fighting off drones.

"Go!" Yelped Zak, before drawing his sword and charging in to join the others. Darryl shivered, but forced himself to turn away. Mega, however would not stop signing desperately, trying to get to Zelk.

"Give-Mega please, he'll be fine. He's the one that told me to keep you safe anyway-"

Too late.

Mega sprung from his arms like he's wildfire spreading to kill him and ran full speed towards Zelk. Darryl called out the others to warn them to protect him. If Mega died, all the memories died with him. They would have to have a transfer of memories to Zak, if Mega was close to dying, and from Zak's description of Mega during the procedure with the past Giver, it doesn't seem to pleasant.

Mega was... there was no word to describe how he felt. Depressed, angry, livid, conflicted, sad, scared, terrified, protective, desperate. All fitted him to some degree. Because while Darryl was carrying him, he had a vague feeling of de ja vu. That's when he realized that Zelk was in trouble. 

Back in his house, when the old Giver was still alive, his first vision had occurred. And it had been of Zelk's "death". He was being carried away by an unknown being and forced to watch from behind as Zelk was impaled by a spear from a drone. The searing bullet of pain in his chest, and the scream of agony from the vision Zelk, was enough to wake him up. He had gone to see Zelk after jobs were over.

Now, being carried away by Darryl, he knew exactly what was going to happen. Except. Except, he won't let it happen. Zelk means too much to him.

"Hey? Mega?"

"What?"

"I'll protect you forever, okay?"

"W-what? Why? What have I done to help you? Nothing nice or praiseworthy."

"I like you! So, I'm going to protect you!"

Nope. Not today. No one was taking Zelk. There it was. The spear. He could see it. But what could he do? He didn't have anything to use. Not even a voice-

"STOP!"

Everything froze, and time seems to have lost meaning.

Until the drones all exploded into flame, and a thin translucent shield formed around the team of fighters. Everyone turned to Mega. This was great. Zelk was safe, he just used magic, and- Oh. Oh no. Mega's throat was on fire. Like, burning. Yea, he couldn't talk because his voice box was messed up as shit. But he could still make noises if he wanted to. It just hurt. Jesus Christ. He swayed and Zelk caught him.

Fuck. Fuck.

God that hurt like hell just spawned in the inside of his neck.

"P-pa...in" He signed with hands barely moving. When had he lost control over his body? Why couldn't he hear anything? So many questions. Was it just him, or was it a billion times more comfortable to lay on the ground? No wait, that was just Zelk. He had picked him up. How nice of him. Say thank you.

...

Why wouldn't his hands move?

Oh yeah. Lost control, right.

He turned and buried his face in Zelk's sweater. I guess his body only sometimes decided to listen to him.

"Let's go." One voice. Zelk's. They were moving now. That makes it hurt more. Why were they running again? He managed to will his hands to clutch the rim of Zelk's sweater.

"I know, I know. Mega listen to me, breathe. I need you to stay awake for me okay? We need to get to-" A muffled voice interrupts him. No- why would you do that? Zelk's voice was so nice to listen to...

\--

Zak was missing. Darryl paced his porch anxiously. He was supposed to be back by now.

RING RING

What was that? Zak? He felt a relief fill him when he saw Zak racing towards him on his bike. But his face didn't have the same lazy, and carefree attitude it usually has. As soon as he jumped off his bike, he plunged into Darryl's arms, tucking his own around the taller's neck.

"Darryl."

The one word- one name filled with so many emotions, and feelings, Darryl had to take a step back before hugging him back and slowly running his hand through the distressed boy's hair.

"Muffin, calm down, we'll go inside, and I'll make you some-"

"No." Darryl blinked.

"No?"

Zak drew his head to look Darryl straight in the eyes.

"It's her. She found out. It's time."

...

Darryl thought about this. Then, he took a long, steadfast glare at the nearest spy camera on them, (Which happened to be on Darryl's own roof.) and kissed Zak as if his life depended on it.

Slow and soft but demanding and firm. Zak kisses back, letting himself fall under Darryl's fingers, running down his spine, trekking through his dark messy raven hair and occasionally thumbing at Zak's lips causing the smaller to mumble at the foreign element. The kiss was the first and only one either of them had had, so obviously, it was also the longest. They parted when air decided to matter, but only to suck a breath in before diving back into the deep cesspool of love.

The second one was a lot more passionate and vigorous than the last one. It was about which one yielded first, and surprisingly, the answer was Zak. Darryl's tongue slipped in Zak's mouth swiftly and as soon as it met Zak's they both got a shock of a feeling.

Darryl felt like eating Zak alive, because holy shit he tasted so sweet and looked so fucking enticing, clutching at his shirt. Addicting, and it was all his. No one else's to share because they were all dumb enough to not take the advice that Zak gave them.

Zak felt like they were two stars spiraling up an infinite plane of void. Skating around each other, leaving trails of blue and red, eventually mixing to create a very vibrant purple. Blue, the first to start with before adding a little bit of red, but not too much. Otherwise the red would overwhelm all the pigment of the blue and then it wouldn't be purple at all. Perfectly balanced, but not at the same time. But it felt right.

It was just enough for them to melt equally. (Although Zak leaned into Darryl, like he was his life support) Using his index and thumb, Darryl's gently tilted Zak's head to the side and opened their mouths to the air, so they were still technically kissing, but exposed to feel the cold autumn air hit their saliva and make their kiss even more extra sensory. Their tongues shoved down each other's throats, Zak let out a small noise that sounded like resentment, reluctance and submissiveness all rolled into one.

He let go of Darryl's shirt, to readjust his grip, hands drifting to his shoulders. Darryl let him go, but not before biting Zak's bottom lips before leaving.

"Gods I've been waiting to do that forever." Darryl's huffed, looking half annoyed, half pleased, and three quarters smug.

All Zak could do was stare in shock and happiness and also the smallest bit of proudness that he managed to predict he would spend more time to get Darryl than all the others.

"You came here, early didn't you?" Darryl asked. There was that happiness out the window. He shrugged,

"Can't say I haven't thought about kissing you." He replied.

Darryl got closer.

"Fair point."

\--


	6. Skephalo prepares for Pride 🏳️🌈

"This is stupid," Zak grumbled, possibly not so gently to Darryl.

"Shhhhh, hold still you muffin." Darryl responded; a smile etched on his face. "Let me finish this bow."

"Fine..."

Nimble hands weaved through Zak's hair, tying in the last rainbow ribbon. Zak tried to remember how Darryl managed to convince him to go with him to the parade but came up with the only plausible solution: The other just sucked up to him, and did whatever he asked, with the requirement that he went with him this one night.

"That's it." Darryl finished happily, clasping Zak's hand as he pulled him up.

"Do I want to see how I look?" Zak asked, half worried, half curious. Darryl only held up a mirror sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.   
"I tried to make it look natural y'know? I have to get my makeup done as well so, I'm gonna go do it now so we're not late-!" And without giving Zak the chance to process what he said, he ran off headed straight for the bathroom.

Zak slowly picked up the mirror and examined himself closely. Two smooth silky ribbons danced through his hair, seemingly sprouting from the blackness. Reminding himself of the colors they were, he looked down at his wrist. Darryl had taken some the more colorful parts of his giant makeup bag and painted a neat rainbow flag on it. He refocused his attention on his face...and he had to admit, Darryl really did know what he was doing with that blender. His face seemed so smooth. Pausing, he tentatively reached up to his cheeks and noticed a small tint of pink. That idiot put blush on him. He giggled quietly.

Muttering a promise to kill him when he emerges from the bathroom, he made his way over to the couch, and flipped through the channels on the TV in the dining room. He checked if everything was in his backpack, and sure enough everything to survive a late night out partying was there. Noises of talk shows filled the air, and after a while passed Zak cast his eyes to the digital clock in the corner of the room.

"Darryl, hurry uuuuup!" He whined, smacking the pillow next to him. A soft sigh was heard from behind a door.   
"Zak, really I'm almost done alright? Give me a few more minutes, and then we can go meet the others."  
More TV noises.  
"Zak?"  
"Yeah, yeah, okay fine." Darryl laughed.  
"I spent less time on your muffiny makeup! And I wanted to add more..." He said the latter softer than the rest of his speech. "At least let me do mine!" Zak rolled his eyes.  
"I Said FINE!" He called over his shoulder, already losing interest in the argument.

More ads and commercials scrolled by, and Zak was already losing whatever patience he just announced he would have. He opened his mouth to yell at the other again but was interrupted by a soft click that echoed down the hallway. Footsteps came closer to him, and the show Zak tuned in to watch finally came on.  
"Seriously?" He complained. "You decide to get done as soon as-" And then he stopped. Stopped his words dead in their tracks, because Darryl was in front of him.

And Darryl looked fucking gorgeous.

He just sat there on the couch looking like a be-smitten fool, with his mouth halfway open, and eyes adoring Darryl's face, because goddamn it all, how do you use powder, cream, and colors to look that cute?

"Zak...?" Darryl asked cautiously.   
"Holy fucking shit, you look beautiful."

...

There was silence, and the comment lingered in the air for an uncomfortable amount of time. It looked like Darryl even forgot what he was going to say, because the iconic "Language!" that usually followed a curse, wasn't there. Zak was pretty sure he made him blush, under all the foundation he used. He stood up to look at all the different flags, the other had painted on his face, and the small amount of eyeshadow he applied.  
"Jesus Christ, I'm so gay." He smiled widely, as he thumbed the bisexual flag on Darryl's left cheek.

As Zak continued to examine and make comments on all his hard work, Darryl finally gathered his words and asked quietly,  
"Which is your favorite one?" Assuming he was referring to the flags, Zak opened his mouth to point out the matching rainbow rectangle on Darryl's wrist, before stopping himself when he realized that he didn't know the one that was sitting on Darryl's right cheek. He searched his memory for black, red, white, sky blue, and baby blue, and came up with nothing. It did look familiar though...

Darryl smiled softly, supposing Zak's confusion was because he couldn't decide.  
"Come on muffin, let's go meet the others, they're probably waiting for us-"  
Then it clicked. Darryl. He-he painted their flag. The flag everybody teased them for. The Skephalo flag. Right there, on his cheek, for everyone to see. Darryl had already turned away and was heading to the kitchen to grab his keys.

"Darryl?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Did I ever mention that I love you?"  
Darryl froze and turned back to Zak, who was grinning like an idiot.

"What brought this on?" He asked suspicious of the other's intent. In response, Zak only laughed. A bright, genuine, happy laugh, and dove straight into Darryl's arms.  
"I love you! So much. So, much!" He buried his face into Darryl's sweater and stayed there, still smiling.

"Did I break you??" Darryl questioned, slightly worried at all the sudden affection.  
"You-you painted our flag! Ours! -Oh my god, I love you so much!"  
Darryl understood now and was 100% blushing under his makeup.  
"Y-you mean the Skephalo flag? I mean I had to, right? Like, I can't just go to what's basically a gay palooza without my muffiny flag, now can I?"

Laughing at Darryl's flustered justification, Zak drew back, pecked him on the lips and tugged his hand towards the door.  
"Lets goooooo! I'm hyped up now, I grabbed the keys and everything!"  
Darryl only laughed along with him and followed him out the door.  
"I'm coming, I'm coming you muffin!"


	7. Ice and Fire

Inspired by Soul Seeking by: Faded-Red. Seriously it's 👌 and you should go check it out. 

Also inspired by MidoriMatcha, their YouTube channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQGNT-73m6587RopU_Xa8-A

________________________________________________________________________________

Mega felt unseen tears sift under his balaclava. Not that Fae's feel with that curse of theirs. Crying was something Fae's were known to do under extreme emotions. Love counted as one, he guessed. The Guardian was crouching, holding his stomach. Or, at least whatever he had left of it. The orc had blown a hole straight through his stupid torso. He drew his rapier and pointed it at the beast.

[Leave.] He spoke. The tone was forceful, and protective. It was his fault that the idiot got hurt, and badly at that. The rest of the group huddled around Zelk, trying to heal him. Mega rolled his eyes. Everyone knows only immortals can heal each other, apparently these people are not everyone.

His grip on his weapon tightened. He could feel it. Feel Zelk's conscious fliting between deciding to leave or to stay. Feel, the blood soaking that fancy cloak of his. Most of all, he could feel amusement. Of course, the immortal one would think this is funny. They could only feel pain. Never death. Sometimes it was a burden rather than a gift, he concluded. The orc had finally given into his mind games and agreed to clear the path for them.

As soon as the orc turned and walked away, he spun around on his heel, and briskly walked straight to Zelk's form on the ground.

[You all go ahead and follow the troll. Healing him is useless.]

Not surprisingly Clay, Vincent, Zak, and Darryl all disagreed, and refused to move away. That's until he summoned a spike of ice to sprout a tight circle around the injured god.

[Trust me. You can't do anything beyond feeling bad. Mortals can't heal higher deities.]

"And how do we know that you won't hurt him more once we leave?" Vincent retorted sharply. Mega summoned another spike.

[You'll just have to hope I don't.] He growled, leaving the ice spear to float in the air.

After some time, they managed to convince themselves that Mega wouldn't tear Zelk to pieces.

"Fine, but if we come back and-"

[If you want your friend to not be in excruciating pain, I suggest you move]

Mega was getting impatient, and the sight of Zelk curling up into his cloak gave him anxiety. The group gave him one final glare, before rushing off. Zelk laughed softly at the ice dome that formed around them. Mega fell next to Zelk's side and drew power from the ice around them.

[This is all your fault, you fucking idiot] He hissed, feeling his voice shake. It was because he knew he was lying. Zelk was everything. The world. The sun. The whole fucking universe. There was no point to existing if he didn't.

Zelk giggled again.

"You know I can't die, righ-" Mega interrupted him, angrily.

[No, but you can fade out of existence if you're in too much pain. You can cease to exist.] His hands trembled violently as blue aura flowed steadily in and out Zelk's wound.

"I don't see why that's so bad." Zelk murmured. However, when he saw Mega's eyes slowly turn glassy and emotional, he sat up gently.

"Look, I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here." He reassured the Fae.

[F-fuck off] Mega trembled more. Zelk was mostly healed but he was still only barley able to move. An anger filled him, swirling around his stomach. If he had done something...If he moved. Why didn't he move?? He pushed the anger directed at himself into the healing.

"Hey, don't push yourself, you could pass out." The taller argued when he saw a pulse of blue magic surge, finally sowing the hole closed.

Mega snapped his gaze towards him, and Zelk felt a cold atmosphere replace whatever warmth there once was in the igloo.

[You don't get to say that. If I was even a sec-] His voice was breaking. [Second late-]

Zelk breathed out a sigh of disbelief as he was a tear run down Mega's cheek. He was healed enough he decided and grabbed Mega's wrist pulling him onto his lap.

"Oh, my fucking god, you though I was actually going to fade?" The only answer was a whine that broke through Mega's lips as he trembled more and more, holding onto Zelk as if he was the only anchor left to hold him there. When the Fae tried to speak, he realised that his throat had closed up. Overwhelmed by Zelk's injury, he leaned as much as he could into Zelk's arms, which were now wrapped around him, stroking the tips of his ears, and playing with his hair.

[G-god you...fuck. You're staying right? You're not leaving? I-I'm not letting you... not now.] Zelk laughed quietly into Mega's ear.

"No. No, I'm not leaving. I'm staying right here."

Mega's lips parted to let out a sob of relief.

[Good.]

Zelk thumbed away tears from the smaller's face, murmuring soft comforting words.

"Geez, this your first time with feelings?" Mega clung to Zelk weakly, hands fisting through a part of his cloak.

[Fuck o-off]

In the guardian's opinion, he thought the curse of Fae's entirely and utterly stupid. Not feeling the least bit of emotion until a trigger unlocks them? It gives them quite a shock, as he could see clearly with Mega desperately trying to wipe away water from his face.

[Crying is for mortals. Why am I doing it? I don't want-]

"I know, it's because of that stupid curse. Believe it or not, one of the reasons why mortals are so helpful to us, is because they understand feelings better than we do."

Zelk soothed, combing his fingers through Mega's hair.

"The reason why most Fae's don't break their curse, is because to discover the understanding, you need another person."

[Easy for someone like you to say.]

"Oh?"

[You didn't have your voice taken away from you. You can interact with people without-] His breath hitched. [Without worrying about- someone hurting you- wanting to use you-] He buried his head in Zelk's chest.

[Look at me. Pathetic. Acting like a fucking weakling.] Zelk frowned and held Mega closer.

"Mega look at me, feeling is not 'pathetic', okay? It natural. A part of life, it's that stupid curse you should be shaming. Not yourself."

The Fae's shoulders drooped down for him to curl up in Zelk's lap.

[Why? Why did it break now? All I had to do was heal you, and go about my day, why-]

"I'm that trigger." Zelk replied, as if it was the clearest thing to him in the world.

[...What?]

"I'm the trigger to break your curse. You couldn't stand for a world without me, so you healed me. Somewhere along the way, your thoughts got to you, and the curse poofed out of existence." Mega's mouth twitched at the playful tone.

[I'm an idiot. I've known you for literally two months. No more no less, and my curse falls at your feet...] Zelk takes a deep breath and ruffled Mega's hair one last time, before gently standing up. He held the Fae in his arms slowly rocking back and forth until they were practically dancing.

"Come on. Let's go meet up with the others, and while they're asleep we can talk more about his okay?" The other nodded into the Guardian's clothes and let out a final breath. When he pulled away, Zelk was shocked to see that his face was tear stricken and stained with blood from his cloak. He forgot he was even fatally injured if he was being honest.

"You should clean your face." He murmured. For a second nothing happened. Mega just stared at him. Or more accurately, his eyes. Then, he snapped back into reality, and quickly summoned an ice shard and gave it to Zelk. The other gave him a confused look.

[Melt it in your hand and use the water.] Mega told him, looking away. A pale blush had appeared on him. Zelk chuckled.

"What makes you think I'm going to do that?"

Mega glared at him, and for a second, everything was normal. The playful banter, the love-hate relationship, Mega's sassy come-backs, everything.

[I fucking saved your existence; it would be the least you could do.] He grumbled. Zelk smiled and proceeded to follow the Fae's instructions, until he was caught off guard by the blush, now a darker color, when his hand scrubbed at Mega's pale cheek.

"Have I ever told you how adorable you are?" He questioned. It was the truth. In response, all that happened was the Fae mumbling something under his breath. (Or at least the closest thing the mute could manage.)

[N-no, no you have not.]

A silence swarmed the space, and before he knew it, Zelk's hands were off his face and rare warmth he felt- being a creature of winter he was alwayscold- was gone. The dome of ice melted away and he turned expectantly to the sight of a dark sky. A little ways off he could make out the two mages dueling, while the swordsman and bowman cheered on their friends. The orc was nowhere to be seen, and the smoke from the campfire set up around the group of adventurers sifted into the ozone. Zelk laughed.

"I guess we better go cheer on our champions" He said, referring to the two mages.

[I'd rather watch.] Was Mega's immediate answer. Zelk shrugged, and pulled his wrist tugging him towards the gathering. Clearly, he was feeling much better.

"I'm not letting watch for a distance though!" He giggled.

So, that was why Mega was now sitting at an uncomfortable distance from the fire, while two idiot mortals tried to incinerate each other. Luckily everyone was too distracted to notice Zelk sneakily moving to cradle the Fae's body in his lap.


	8. Mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skep done messed up now. =^=

Funny story actually, I was on YouTube minding my own business when I saw this masterpiece. I got writers inspiration and decided: Skephalo angst with comfort because I love that. So here.

Master Piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud_V7NZdSls

________________________________________________________________________________

Zak pushed his chair out from his desk and gently set his headphones down. He stared at the screen in front of him. His frozen Minecraft character still in the field of wheat he and the others had built. He was not okay. Definitely not okay. The colors reflected form his computer onto his face dulled as time passed, and eventually faded to black. He was staring at an empty screen now. He had screwed up big time, and instead of Darryl forgiving him, he'd asked for a break. A break from him. And a break from Skeppy, also meant a break from Zak.

He let out one incredulous breath. He'd actually done it. He'd managed to ruin Darryl's trust in him. The one thing he treasured. The one thing he valued. It went down the drain. They'd been doing so well. How could've he have screwed up this badly? First, it had been Vincent's friendship, which was still rocky, and now Darryl's. He sat more, elbows propped up on his knees and hands hanging between his legs. He still couldn't process it. A cold shiver ran through him when he felt a cold stream of air run under his hoodie. He ignored it.

"What is wrong with me?" He whispered to himself. He looked up at his ceiling and let himself lean back enough to fall from his chair straight onto his back. It didn't even hurt. Not as much as everything inside did. He felt like he was going to sink into the floor. At the sound of Zak falling, his dog rushed in and sniffed him to make sure he was alright. Zak's mind was racing, not even paying attention to Rocco, panicking at his quick breathing.

"Rocco?" He asked, not bothering to get up.

"Have you ever lost something you value very very much?" The dog merely sat of his chest, trying to remind his owner he's not alone. The first tear Zak had shed in a long time, dripped down his cheek.

"I'll give you advice... it hurts. A lot. Like-" And suddenly, he felt his words die in his throat.

He wishes he could understand how people cry silently. He hated making noise. It bothered people, made them uncomfortable. That was what he was best at wasn't it though? He reached into his pocket, and pulled out his phone, numbly unlocking it, and immediately checking any contact with Darryl. More tears fell from his eyes, when he was blocked on each and every one, only left with the text,

Leave me alone. I'll talk to you when I'm ready.

-Bad

He smiled through the water on his face and texted back, even though the response was only a "You were blocked by this user..."

Ok. I'm so sorry. Please, if you see this...know that I'll wait.

Then, he sat there some more. Praying that he hadn't hurt Darryl badly. He contemplated every word of that text. Especially the ending. He didn't know whether it was a reference to the fact that Zak didn't take him seriously so neither should he; or that he simply didn't deserve to have a message signed by his real name. Both options made him cry harder. He thanked his past self for making his bedroom soundproof.

He stayed there for so long, that every time he'd tell himself to get over it and at least move to his bed, he'd remind himself of Darryl's voice. How it trembled when he told him to stop. How he'd kept laughing and ignored him. It made him sob louder, desperately muffling himself with his hand. He doesn't deserve to cry about this either. He was just a terrible person. It was just the way it was.

The next time he checked the clock, three hours had passed. It was four in the morning now. He should really get some sleep. He paused. Darryl's words kept torturing him. They bounced around his head and refused to give him any sliver of self-defense. Poor Rocco, he realized, was trying to lick the tears off him face. He hadn't fed him, right? He's such a bad person. He should go do that.

The first time he tried to stand up it didn't go to well. He took two steps and collapsed, legs buckling under his little weight. He was weak too, what a disappointment. The second time was more successful. He managed to grab onto his doorknob and twist it without falling. After that, his body remembered how to function again, so he dragged his body down the stairs of his apartment, and quietly poured Rocco some food in his bowl. Then, he decided that curling up in the corner of the living room and running his eyes dry until they stung was the best course of action, and that's what he did.

He cried himself to sleep that night, and in fact- the night after that too. After the third day, he had run out of tears to constantly use. Darryl was one of the only things that kept him sane in his empty apartment. And now he was gone, because of him. It felt so empty. Lifeless. Dead. Sometimes, he would drink a glass of water, only to feel the hot tears seconds later.

The rest of the week, dragged on so slowly, that Zak thought someone had slowed it down on purpose just to drive him insane. He only got up to eat and use the bathroom. Otherwise, he would just sit, in corners of rooms. Surrounding himself with every good moment they ever had. Which he felt his heart drop to the bottom of the Earth when there were no physical manifestations of them. He did the next best thing, which was to wear, and cuddle all the Badboyhalo merch he'd ever bought.

He really never realized how much he loved Darryl. At one point it just happened, and he never questioned it. A part of his brain always passed by it, said hello, but never assigned it any significance. Until now. All he could think about was how happy Darryl's giggles were, his laughter were a lot like chimes and-

"Skeppy, STOP! PLEASE! Alright. You know what? I'm done. I'm done with you; I'm done with this. I'm LEAVING. I'm taking a break from YOU, and YOU specifically Zak. I don't ever want to see you in my TeamSpeak, don't talk to me, don't call me, don't ANYTHING."

"Bad!-"

"I'm done, goodnight."

There it was again, all those words. They made things so complicated. The last words he'd heard from Darryl. And they were about not seeing him. He gripped his hoodie harder, hiccupping softly. No one could help him. He was on his own, and Darryl just told him that he didn't want to ever hear from him again. He screamed as loud as he could into the crook of his arm. The frustration and self-deprecation didn't leave. It never does.

It has been four weeks, and Zak thinks he's going to die. Not once had be touched his computer. Or his phone. He had fiddled with the notifications to only ring if Darryl had tried to contact him. It stayed on his desk, silent for a very long time. He'd made sure to charge it too.

He'd made an exception with his phone to see if Darryl had posted anything involving him. He cried when he saw Darryl's very long vent tweet, and a notification to his fans to try and not get involved. That had been posted a day after they'd fought, and he'd seen it about two weeks into his isolation. He didn't bother to ready any of Darryl's tweets after that, going as far as to switch his phone off. His heart hurt so much he thought it was going to burst out of his chest. He sometimes wished it did. Just to put him out of his misery.

Zak had a habit of his. It wasn't very special, but it was messy. When he's frustrated, he'd use pen and paper to vent. It hadn't been long before his room had been completely covered in crumpled wads of paper, many pages filled with giant circles of angry black lines. He never bothered to clean them up.

Sleep was also a touchy subject. He only did it if he was tired enough to pass out naturally. Otherwise he's stay awake, staring his phone praying for it to light up, out of some sort of miracle, with a message telling him that Darryl forgave him. It didn't. Food was a little different, but he still ate. Just not as often, and as much. He definitely lost weight. He stayed closed off until Saturday.

Then, Sunday rolled around, and things happened a little differently. That day, he spent on the couch, folding the many BBH hoodies, he'd washed the day before. His mind was muddled, and usually it bother him, but it looked like the past month was anything besides normal. Suddenly, Rocco came bounding up to him, barking excitedly at the door, and tugging his sleeve.

Zak wordlessly let himself be pulled to his door. A soft knock came from the other side. Zak blinked. He'd hadn't ordered anything, let alone expected someone to be at his door. Rocco wove around his legs excitedly, expecting the new set of events to stir something in his owner.

Zak opened his door and froze. There was Darryl, standing right there. Right in front of him. He came all the way just to-

"Hey, I-I'm sorry. I tried to get to you after I unblocked you, but you didn't answer" He mumbled, looking to the ground next to Zak in shame. If Zak was being honest, he didn't care. He felt a tear slide down his cheek. And another... and another. He was crying again.

"Zak!" His gaze was still trained on Darryl and when the other stepped forward, to try and wipe the water now cascading down his face, he stepped back. There was no way. No way Darryl was standing right in front of him.

"Oh, my goodness Zak, are you okay? Y-You're crying!" Zak trembled.

"Are you real?" At the sound of his voice, even Zak was shocked. He hadn't talked in...a while. So, he shouldn't be surprised. But he never thought it would be that... that what? Broken? Scratchy? Tired? Rough? Soft and quiet? He caught Darryl's shocked gaze and the stasis they were caught in, was broken.

"Zak, of course I'm real." He breathed out.

"I'm sorry." More tears.

"Oh, my goodness, you're trembling." Darryl reached out and pulled Zak into a hug.

"Muffin, where were you for four weeks?" He whispered. Zak only sobbed louder at the sound of the word muffin. He missed them. God, he missed them. All that was coming out of his mouth were "I'm sorry's" and "I missed you's." They tumbled from him as if he'd waited all his life to say them.

Darryl moved a hand through Zak's hair, still keeping him close.

"I...I said somethings I really didn't mean and shouldn't have said. I came here to say I'm sorry. Also, you weren't answering your phone at all, so I got worried. Especially when you weren't posting either." He murmured into Zak's ear, making the smaller's breath hitch. He missed Darryl's voice so much.

"I'm so sorry, Darryl. I'm never doing that again I swear." He croaked out; his voice now even more worn than before.

"So, it's a duel apology?" Darryl joked softly, rubbing circles on Zak's back steadying his breathing now that the vicious tears calmed down. Zak shook his head.

"That was all my fault, you don't deserve to apologize. I was prepared to never talk-" He gulped in some air. "Talk to you again."

Darryl hesitated, at the blatant display of truth. Debating on whether he should argue that some of the things he did were also uncalled for. He came to the conclusion that arguing with Zka being as fragile as he is wasn't the preferable option. Finally, he felt Zak tighten his grip around his waist and spoke.

"Of course, I accept your apology, you muffin. Now, I don't mean to intrude but, we're going to go inside and you're going to explain why you have been non-existent on every piece of media you have. Okay?" Zak nodded, his face buried in Darryl's hoodie, which happened to actually be Skeppy merch. What a coincidence, they happen to be wearing each other's hoodies.

"Are you staying?" Darryl blinked at the question.

"If you want me too, I don't have a hotel reserved-" Zak didn't even let him finish.

"Yes."

"Okay, muffin."

Extra:

"You. Did. What?" Zak shivered at Darryl's tone.

"I stayed in my apartment and cried at least twelve hours per day, because I kept messing up my friendships, and I thought I lost you, and I kept blaming myself, and so I had to scribble giant weird shapes on paper and-" He stopped himself, and yelped when Darryl pulled him onto his lap and demanded he look straight into his eyes.

"Muffin, I don't care what you've been through with me, alright? Self-deprecation is never acceptable. Ever. You're lucky I'm staying here, because I'm not leaving you one second alone for the rest of the time I'm here. You are a good person, you just...took a joke to far, yeah?" Zak got lost in the emerald orbs staring at him.

"Okay." He whispered. They were so close...

"Can I say something, even though you're probably going to hate me after?" Darryl narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah...?"

"A-" Zak giggled for the first time in four weeks. "Are we about to kiss right now?"

Darryl thought about getting mad, for Zak breaking the feeling of peace with the vine, being proud of him breaking the tension, or just answering the question.

He decided on the latter.

"Yeah, I guess we are." And the he did. And Zak, was most definitely not expecting that.


	9. ZelkPvP but Mega Needs a Big Fat Hug

Aha I wrote another one. Again: This is inspired from Soul Seeking By Faded-Red. Go check out their book, it's fucking amazing.

Also I had a little writer's block and I found this:

https://4thewords.com/home 

I seriously didn't even know writing games existed, but it rlly helped. So yeah, enjoy what monstrosity I wrote.

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Mega was generally a pretty reserved person. Really, he wasn't the type to start too much commotion based off of a stupid enemy that was so much lower than him. His rapier hung by his side and it dripped of blood, contradicting his past statement quite obviously in Zelk's opinion.

[Why are we doing this again?] Mega asked, annoyed by the amount of screaming around him. Zelk rolled his eyes.

"Dumbass, you said you wanted to move on with the plan did you not?" Crossing his arms across his chest, Mega regarded Zelk in the way a cat would it's owner: uninterested and bored.

[Yes, but is this really the only way to do it?] He whined, stabbing another goblin in the chest as it frantically scrambled around his feet. Its noises were pitiful and honestly, way more aggravating than he first thought. In the beginning of the encounter, Mega thought that Zelk wouldn't help him. The magic of the forest only worked whether certain rules were being followed; and as far as he knew, no rules were being violated now. So, you can imagine his surprise when Zelk jumped in front of him when a wooden spear flew straight for his eye. On the unscarred part of his face, mind you.

[U-um that was unnecessary?] He questioned cautiously. He'd never seen the deity do anything for anyone. Let alone that one fae that seems to despise him all the time. He was accurately and positively confused. Zelk, in front of him simply held out a hand in front of Mega's elegant stance and warned him under his breath.

"That spear was different than the rest." Mega looked at the item in the god's hand with interest. It looked simple enough. Wooden and polished, like any other would be. Splinters were poking out of the wax around it, but he deemed it as the result of being used.

[I don't sense a difference-] He started, and the fell short because a wave of pure intrusion crashed through him. Zelk was his anchor, they knew that. He knows it has something to do with the fact that the god was around him all the time, but he guesses he was just used to Zelk's presence. Now, though... Now it was different. Intrusive, threatening. Threatening to take him away from Zelk. The force of the aura almost forced him to his knees. That is, until the new presence faded, and all he could sense was Zelk. Zelk's scent, Zelk's aura, Zelk everything.

"Hey, I'm right here." He murmured; and Mega noticed that the spear had shattered into a million pieces and was burning. He gasped as he felt a pricing rage run through him. What was that? Why was he compelled to...save it? The feeling was battling his own self-conscious.

"Don't be ridiculous," it said bright as daylight. "Zelk's our anchor, we can't betray him."

And then the other voice... where was is coming from?

"Yes, do betray him, he's never done anything for you, why would he care about you? Let's be honest, he'd leave you to rot away if you weren't useful to him..." The voice droned on and on and Mega felt lost because there was so much happening. But he was angry. Angry at the voice. How dare it? He was not some bargaining chip. He was not to be treated like damn property. To be cOnViNcEd to "switch sides".

[Zelk has done everything for me.] He yelled out into the darkness.

[He has sacrificed more than I thought he would, and that was before we knew he was my anchor. He might seem like a piss guy, but he would never leave me to die!] The voice seemed to quiet at his outburst and with a final cautious flick, he sent out a burst of ice aimed at the direction of the voice. It missed. He knew that, he did it on purpose so he could properly gauge the voice's location.

"You fool, you- you missed." It laughed obnoxiously.

[You wished I missed. I never fail to kill a nuisance.] Mega retorted and reveled in happiness and satisfaction when he heard a sickening crunch followed by blood painting the walls of his mind. Whatever voice was annoying enough to mess with him, was also a foolish, puny-

"MEGA" That sound was Zelk's. It wasn't in pain from what it sounded like but was filled with relief. He quickly snapped out of the 'mind trap' he was in and blinked quickly. Zelk was in front of him, stroking his cheek and running a hand through his hair. He was sitting down now. Next to a tree.

"Mega, oh thank the fucking lord, I thought you actually listened to him." To his statement, Mega cocked his head to the side.

[Listened to who?] The elk rolled his eyes, but Mega could quite clearly see proudness flicker brightly in his eyes.

"You know that voice you heard? Yeah, well that voice was another god. And you just fucking kicked his ass." He paused before quickly adding.

"With my help of course." The fae's ear twitched.

[A god?] Zelk laughed and nodded, making Mega's cheeks tint a pale pink. He...killed a deity?

"God of mind manipulation: Spifey. From what I remember, he likes to play on things people hold dear. Manipulate them into thinking that they deserve better, and not someone as sucky as whoever they like. In this case, I'm your anchor and I'm pretty sure that's the closest thing to love fae's can get." Mega puffed out his now red-ish cheeks and playfully whacked Zelk's head with his hand.

[Fae's can feel...just...not easily.] He stumbled through his words like he was blind and didn't know where he was going on the path of speaking. He actually did like Zelk...a lot. The elk meant more to him than this stupid planet they lived on. At first, he thought it was because Zelk was his anchor. But then, something happened. The first thought of being held by and kissing the other entered his mind, and ever since then, Mega could not erase them from his head no matter what he tried.

"Really?" Speaking of the which, Zelk was leaning suspiciously close to him.

[What are you doing?] He grumbled suspiciously, shrinking under the now towering figure above him.

"You said fae's don't feel easily, except I was the one who helped you incapacitate that stupid beaver" he said, referring to the deity Mega killed.

"And I saw everything." He drawled. Mega's chin was now being tilted up so his gaze would meet the elk's and Zelk whispered in his ear, making shivers run races down Mega's spine.

"I've done a lot for you haven't I?" He asked quietly, fucking nibbling on Mega's ear. Mega's breath hitched and he assumed his face was now blood red.

[H-have you not?] He shot back weakly, feeling Zelk's smirk from his stutter.

[You've protected me multiple times, and even as someone who's anchored to you, I'm surprised that you actually do you job. Most people who are anchored to us, take advantage of us, using our lives as blackmail anyway...] He added the last part, looking away and training his gaze on a blade of grass far away from the current situation he was in.

"Well, I'm surprised you regard me that highly; and for the record, I'd never take advantage of you. You're entitled to your own life, whether that is to be cold to me or accepting." The phrase caught Mega off guard. He genuinely thought that Zelk would've agreed with what Spifey said and agreed with the idea that he indirectly proposed by mentioning the majority.

[I- you're being serious?] He asked, confusion littering his tone. Zelk eased the pressure off of the fae, and instead turned more to comforting him. It was clear that the other was practically touch starved and he took it upon himself to give him what he needed. He switched their positions completely, turning over and placing Mega on his lap and staring right up into his eyes, ignoring the warnings in the back of his mind. Yes, fae's were known to manipulate like Spifey but Mega was his, and he thought that they were past fooling each other. Especially considering the endearing situation they were in.

"One hundred percent serious." He relished the other's reaction to his movement. It was elegant and cautious as always, but also conflicted which was new. Mega was always sure about what he was doing. Now, was different and now was also extremely entertaining to watch.

Conflict was the main thing on Mega's mind at the moment. He wanted so bad. So badly, to relax and let himself sink into Zelk's chest and just forgetabout everything that just happened because believe it or not it was actually pretty energy consuming. Touch starvation was another point that contributed towards letting Zelk take the reins for once and lead him. He hadn't touched someone unless it was having to do with harming them in an embarrassing amount of time. It was so tempting to just let his walls of suspicion and wariness to come crashing down and loose himself in the soft and inviting touch.

Then came the overbearing memories of when he was a little bit younger. When he still had his voice and trusted people. How he was completely and utterly vulnerable to whatever they wished or pleased to do with him. How touch starvation wasn't a thing, because he received hugs and cuddles whenever he wanted.

And with those calm memories also came the absolute horrification that was the fact that he failed in protecting that town. He was known as a hero and gladly fought, and then they turned on him. Because of a sum of money. Useless, physical, coins that would be deemed non-valid in a few years. He'd lost it, and wanted to harm them, but he couldn't. Not the people that gave him a place to stay, and food to eat.

Compassion. That was his weakness in that time period. Until he lost his voice. Having his vocal cords mangled and charmed so he could only speak at the price of excruciating pain, and make noises like laughter, sighs and more.

It ruined any bit of trust he had, and now he was being asked to put his life in a god's hands? (If he were looking at it in hindsight, it was a little bit of an extreme to see his life in danger at that moment.) He was fighting a war against himself. In which the cautious and cold part won every time. But this was different. This time it was Zelk trying to convince him, and that made things a hell of a lot harder. He hadn't even noticed he was trembling, desperately fighting the urge to curl up and never leave his safe cocoon again.

"C'mon Mega. Just this once, let your guard down. I'll protect you, and you can take a break, you haven't taken one in who knows how long." Three sentences was all it took to break him. Mega would've seen it as pathetic except for the fact that he was too busy burying himself into Zelk's lap, burrowing in like he was a fucking rabbit. It just felt so good. Zelk running his hands through his hair, carefully tugging and threading out any knots without hurting him. His entire body felt like a blanket, enveloping him and keeping him safe.

[Please don't do it...] He said meekly.

[Please, please, please, don't hurt me. Not now. I'm asking nicely just... don't.] Zelk felt his heart break a little and the utter loss of strength in Mega's words. He gently summoned a dense weave of forest leaves to cover him and switched it out for his fur lined one. It was thick as well and provided the same heat but was also heavy and uncomfortable. He hoped it would give the fae a better sense of comfort than danger from the removal of a familiar item.

"I'm not going to do anything of the sort." He murmured, draping the hand that wasn't on Mega's head around his waist, keeping him steady.

[Promise me.] His trust issues with Zelk were going to have to have a strong devotion in order to break it. He sighed and pressed an angel soft kiss to Mega's pale face.

"I promise, until the end of time; until I die, I will not hurt you. Not mentally, not physically, and most definitely not emotionally." He heard Mega nod his head slowly against him and he saw him bring a hand up to clutch at his robe. He never noticed how small the other's hands were. He rested his chin on Mega's head and hummed a soft tune. He saw his ear twitch but otherwise the music seemed to relax the fae. That was good, he needed to unwind all his stress anyway.

"We're going to stay here for as long as you need okay?" Zelk asked quietly, making sure his tone wasn't sharp or aggressive.

[Yeah...that's fine.] Was his response and he was surprised at the lack of push against it. He would've expected Mega to fight back a little bit, at least in the way of words.

[Where are we and are we safe?] Mega asked after a good 15 minutes. Zelk giggled and swept a hand around him letting Mega raise his head softly in questioning.

"You need to relax, okay? Let me do all the worrying. We're in my forest in a clearing I made specifically for you." He boomed Mega's nose on the last word. The fae's expression was priceless in his opinion. Confused and shocked at the god's nerve to act playful with him.

"You're stressed, have trust issues, and are touch starved." Zelk counted off the flaws on his fingers, making Mega struggle not to flinch at the last one. How did he know?

"I'm observant, not stupid." The elk added quickly.

"And so!" He declared quite loudly in Mega's opinion. "That leaves me with no other choice other than to nourish you back to being a decent creature of my forest. Not that you are indecent...just not up to my standards." He thumbed the tips of the fae's ears.

[Wha- not up to your- You fucking whiny bitch, you're not up to my standards you irresponsible swine!] He shot back forgetting for a moment that he was curled up in a small ball in the other's lap. Zelk only sighed in relief.

"Thank god I thought I broke you for a second. There's my Mega~" He sang good-naturedly, ruffling his hair before cursing and rearranging it back the way he shaped it to begin with. A blush spread through the smaller's features and he almost got up and walked away until he decided that it wouldn't be worth it. He was too tired anyway; so instead, he set his head back on Zelk's chest and closed his eyes sighing contently at the feeling of being...loved? Was that what it was? The warm feeling of being under sunlight and breathing in the scent of freshly cut grass and water dew off petals of flowers? Maybe that smell thing was unique to Zelk. Why was he even thinking about this? He should just enjoy it while it lasted. And because the fae was distracted, he missed the soft "Who gave you the goddamn right to be this fucking adorable?" that fell from Zelk's lips subconsciously.


	10. Trolls and Identities

I was feeling soft so here you go. Btw I literally have no idea where this came from.

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Skeppy was sitting on a rooftop happily swinging his legs minding his own business. That was, until Badboyhalo, the town hero decided that he was going to stop by. And by that, he actually means shoot an arrow right past his blocky diamond head.

"AHHH!" He yelled unintentionally jumping to his feet and looking around. He caught gazes with the cloaked figure staring daggers at him, and beamed instead. His eyes were shining a bright white, and he could quite clearly see blonde hair poofing out from under the seemingly void hood. He made a mental note to ask the other about that when they were in a more peaceful setting.

"Oh, it's just you. Nevermind!" He giggled and sat back down enjoying the breeze wave his hair around. Usually, villains were supposed to run away from their designated hero, but Skeppy was a different story. It was what led Badboyhalo to think that the seemingly younger had a very strong connection to the civilian Zak, also known as Darryl's roommate.

The revelation caused him some confusion and anger at first, but then he realized that Skeppy is actually as much of a civilian as Zak. Both have the same attitude and actions that can be interpreted as one of two ways: In Skeppy's case, interpreted as a dirty criminal; or in Zak's case, a simple prank from an unruly teenager. That was a big flaw in his opinion. It was why Badboyhalo's personality was so much more different than Darryl's.

"Need something to talk about?' Skeppy asked innocently, leaning back so he was staring right up into the night sky. He thought it was a very pretty night: stars were out, and the artificial city lights didn't even shield his view that much from the beautiful stars glinting their light about.

"Yes. It's something important." Badboyhalo replied, effortlessly gliding over the rooftops until he reached the diamond boy. Said person, grinned as a though slipped into his head.

"Are you going to finally admit your undying love for me?" He quipped earning a dissatisfying look from the darker.

"No, Skeppy. This is about your identity." The other's expression didn't falter in the slightest, which bothered him a bit if he were to genuinely acknowledge. He walked over to the villain but stayed a safe distance away from him mind you, and carefully sat down crossing his legs. Silence filled the air for a few moments before Skeppy decided that he was going to talk first since the topic was very fragile anyway. There were two ways to handle the it. Either gracefully maneuvering the conversation around it or punching straight through the delicate glass. You could probably guess which path he chose.

"So, you figured out who I am?" Badboyhalo stiffened immediately and avoided the look thrown him by staring at the street below them.

"You need to hide it more carefully. It was obvious when you started leaving clues around." The sentence was not meant to be so detrimental, but Skeppy could feel the tension rising not between himself and the other, but more as if the other was having an internal conflict. Their superhero selves have met their civilian selves before, and the air was always filled with a sort of adoration for the other.

When Skeppy met Darryl, he was protecting him from the other crazy destroyers who were ready to tear apart their city without their leader. Skeppy had shown Darryl the escape stairs like a gentleman would and then proceeded to calm down his troops by mentioning that he had a mission for them. (That mission was for them to steal some money from a bank so he could over stuff the ATM machines later and give people more money. No one really appreciated him for that one except Badboyhalo who had later shown up to stop his goons.)

When Zak had met Badboyhalo, it had been when he accidentally walking into a superhero meeting. Badboyhalo was asked to escort him out, but Zak being the sneaky devil he was brought up Skeppy, curious to see the hero's opinion of himself. He was pleasantly surprised to hear him use endearing and sweet words as a filling to the harsh and criticizing ones used as an outer shell or protection. Darryl always had his way with words whenever Zak wasn't around.

Reflecting back on how they met each other when they were not acting as their personas didn't make the tension for the better or worse for Skeppy, but when he had figured out Darryl's secret it was long long ago. He considers himself a pretty smart person, so it wasn't too hard to set up some traps as Skeppy and rush in as Zak to help Badboyhalo. Genius plan, really.

"So, what are you going to do about it?" He asked the shadowed creature. Badboyhalo was practically hiding in his cloak at this point, resembling more signs of Darryl than he'd ever seen publicly.

"I want to know what you think of your roommate."

...

What? That was most certainly not expected.

"My...roommate?" He asked slowly, just in case he misheard.

"Yes, I believe his name is Darryl Noveschosch." Skeppy sat there for a good minute, silently judging the amount of pressure and risk the other had taken. Imagine what would've happened if this was the case between any. other. duo. Chaos! Firstly, there would have been no peaceful picnic on the rooftops. More like extremely harmful battle aimed to rip their throats out. The names would be used for blackmail instead of information, and Darryl and Zak more specifically would have nothing to do with two power blessed humans fighting on opposite sides.

Skeppy sighed at the memory of him and Darryl awkwardly apologizing at each other the first time they'd met. It was ironically at a bakery. ("Muffin shop" Darryl had called it.) They'd agreed to schedule a meeting there since they were both looking to share an apartment together. Zak had almost spilled his coffee and Darryl had caught it with his foot, making sure it didn't tip over.

"He's...so very sweet. I really don't deserve to live with someone so nice. I would've said that it wasn't nice for him to keep secrets from me, especially such a big one, but I mean- here I am, taking the situation he should've been in weeks ago..." He laughed warmly seeing Badboyhalo struggle to keep looking away from him.

"I mean, in all honesty, I love the shit out of him. Y'know? Like oh my fucking god, him and those idiot muffins man...oH No, mR. sQuEeGy, like he was ONE fish, and I still have him safely tucked in my room and he still doesn't know-" At this point Zak was back to trolling and Darryl was having to physically hold himself back from asking questions and also punching the living lights out of Skeppy. He knew? Mr. Squeegy was safe?! It was almost too much. But he restrained himself, keeping his goal in mind to just keep his mouth shut.

"...and like I didn't even know I was bi until I met him but god fucking damnit bro, he's so cute. Like I seriously wished he was next to me right now I would kiss him right now-" And Skeppy broke first, collapsing in a fit of giggles and snorts as Darryl couldn't possibly retain himself after that, and threw an arrow past his head, missing on purpose.

"Seriously?!" He yelled frustrated out of his mind, completely ignoring the villain rolling on the ground dying of laughter.

"I said that one time, okay? ONE TIME, and this is what I get?!" Bad was fuming and Skeppy- no Zak would not take him seriously.

"Oh my gOd, dude wait- wait! no- AhaHA- noooo! I love you, actually!" Skeppy teleported them to an outskirt so the public wouldn't notice their yelling match and threw himself at Bad, knocking over his hoodie. The other didn't even care, yanking the diamond block mask off the smaller and holding the troll away from him.

"Nooooo! Bad no- waaaait! I actually love you!"

"No. Don't talk to me. I hate you right now." Darryl pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. The Badboyhalo facade falling away and drifting away in the dust. A blush was painting his cheeks and Zak personally thought that it was fucking adorable. He giggled, and teleported straight into Darryl's arms, popping up beneath his crossed arms.

"Hiiiii Darryllll~" he cooed resting his head on the mad one's chest.

"Hi, Zak." he grumbled, unable to shake the amount of affection that filled his voice.

"I'm sorry for not telling you, and possible trolling you with our identitiiiiies, do you forgive me?" He whined, gently pushing his head under Darryl's chin. He smiled when he felt Darryl give in and uncross his arms to fully hug him.

"I forgive you I guess...you're still in trouble for cursing though, you muffin. Language!" He declared, ruffling Zak's hair. He gently danced around with Zak in his arms and looked out towards the city which was a good few miles away from the plateau they were teleported to. He lamented on the fact that his crush, his roommate, and his rival were all the same person. It didn't affect him as much because he had prepared for the revelation. He was more worried about the city. They couldn't keep "fighting" could they? Though to be fair, their fights were never really "fights". Just Skeppy angering Badboyhalo by committing small crimes that never hurt anyone. What would happen when others joined the fray?

"What are you gonna do?" Zak's voice drifted up to his ears.

"What am I?- Going to do?" He echoed, curiously. The villain nodded and looked up into his eyes.

"Whatever you decide to do -as long as it's not stupid- I'm in, 100%." Darryl thought for a second and then giggled at a thought.

"WoULd yOu LiKe To jOiN tHe hErO's LeAgUe? jOiN nOw tO pOtEcT yOuR cItY tOdAy!" He imitated one of the commercials that had them laughing for longer than they were supposed to, on the couch one day. Zak laughed along with him.

"I said something not stupid, you dumb- OH! I'm not doing that! You wanna know why?" Darryl was laughing too hard to be disappointed in his rejected offer.

"W- AhaHA- Why?"

"If it's not worth it, DON'T DO IT!" Zak practically wheezed out. Darryl had laughed harder than he had in a long time that night. It ended with him and the other establishing a partially good plan, and a serious confession from Darryl that resulted in Zak blushing furiously and latching onto Darryl, demanding he take them on a magic carpet ride date. Darryl had obliged much to Zak's surprise and almost dropped him a few times while flying between tall buildings. That got him a good scolding alright. Turns out Skeppy does have one weakness despite his protests and multiple claims while fighting Badboyhalo; and that would be a kiss from the one and only Darryl. (Although it never happened in public until they both agreed that they would give everyone a heart attack and then run away together to their house in the middle of the forest outside the busy city.)


	11. In conclusion: Mega is a dumbass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I only ship Zelk and Mega's personas they portray online, not the actual people. If Mega is actually a minor I will have no problem taking down this chapter but uh yeah,  
>->"   
Didn't mean to convey the wrong idea by accident.

ZelkPvP, because I am a simp for sick fics and I had it in my finished folder anyway. Next chapter is gonna be a request. That it all.

\--

Zelk didn't realize that Mega was actually sick until he saw the poor boy practically collapsing at his desk. He had constantly gone up to him, and told him that he should go get some rest, but never actually brought up the fact that he might have a fever, because he knew that would just get him kicked out of his room.

The line was drawn when he walked in to see Mega sitting on his bedside. When he took a step in, he could see that he was actually swaying back and forth, eyes closed in concentration.

"Mega?" He asked carefully. His voice was quiet and careful when he spoke. Made sure that speaking wouldn't bother the mute.

[Wait.] Mega signed, eyes still closed.

"What are you doing?" The answer came instantaneously, but Zelk still noted the tremble in his hands.

[Wait, I'm willing myself to get up. It happens all the time, don't worry about it.] Zelk blinked in confusion and walked over to where Mega was sitting, ready to tell him that he should stay in bed if he was really that tired. He was startled when Mega jumped up, eyes open in their usual half-lidded way and practically dragged himself over to the kitchen.

"Mega!" He had yelled, chasing after him. The day had ended with Zelk insisting that Mega get some rest and said other, arguing back that he was fine.

\--

The second time, Mega pushed himself while he was sick was when he stayed up working late. Zelk was making himself a cup of hot chocolate and getting ready to set up a movie at three in the morning since he couldn't sleep, when he caught the light of Mega's computer shining as bright as can be out his window. It took him a few minutes of debating whether he should walk in before ultimately coming to the conclusion that mega wasn't going to stop him from taking care of him, even if he physically locked him out.

He'd opened the door slowly as to not disturb him only gape in shock at the coffee cups littered around Mega's desk. The actual human was sitting in front of his computer typing like there was no tomorrow seemed completely immersed in whatever he was doing. (Zelk found out later that he was actually logging in more work hours on the server so he could get extra work done. Insane he deemed.)

"Mega this is getting ridiculous, I know you stay up late but you're-" He hesitated before deciding that if he said it, it wasn't going to make things worse in the long run.

"You're sick, I know you are. I have _eyes_." The boy was silent the whole time staring at Zelk with lifeless dilated eyes.

[No, I'm not.] He signed, loosing almost all the 'Mega' personality his sign had. The occasional middle finger slipped into his speech, or the act of calling Zelk an 'elk' in sign language was all lost due to the time of night...or day.

[I'm fine. Go back to your own thing. I'm just finishing up some stuff for the server.]

"The shit for the server can _wait_. You're overworking yourse- Hey! Don't- You can't just-"The door slammed in his face and he heard the moving of something around the lock. The idiot locked his goddamn door.

"MEGA!" Zelk yelled as loudly as he could. "I DON'T CARE IF I WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORS, I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!" No response. That day, Zelk had just sighed and left, picking up his mug of chocolate and grumpily plopping himself down on the couch to watch the newest season of She-Ra. He'd been binge watching the show since last week and he finally reached the last season. Took him long enough.

\--

The third day was when they were eating dinner. It was only 6:30, so Zelk was surprised when Mega laid his forehead on the counter and closed his eyes, breathing slowly.

"So, you're not sick? At _all_?" He questioned sassily, spooning out some soup he'd bought into two bowls.

[Nope. My temperature is normal.] Mega responded, signals murky and sluggish.

"Want me to check? Just in ca-"

[**No**.] He was cut off swiftly by the mute, his hands physically hitting Zelk in the chest to get him to stop his sentence. The other only sighed and sat down to eat his food. Mega ate very little that night, putting the blame on having a bad appetite, despite showing all the symptoms of a fever.

\--

The last time was when Zelk had had enough. Mega was walking into the kitchen holding a cup of tea with both hands and only made it to the doorframe. His cup was spilling over the sides even though it was barely filled halfway. Mega had leaned against the doorway and stayed there, unable to communicate due to his hands being full. Zelk had rushed to him, quickly grabbed the drink, setting it on a table, and instantly supported Mega by grabbing his waist. As soon as his hands were free, Mega was snapping at him that he was _fine_ and was "just tired". Zelk had enough of the lies.

"Mega I'm being serious. Stay here, I'm going to check your temperature and god help you if it's more than 98 degrees you're going to be in _so_ much trouble." The younger simply nodded along to whatever Zelk had said, too busy focusing on staying upright.

Zelk had raced over to the cabinets and tore apart the shelves, looking for the thermometer and some medicine. He finally found it behind some balaclavas of Mega's (Probably replacements in case he lost his signature green one.) and dashed back to the other side of the counter only to see Mega now _trembling _with the effort it took to stand up. When Zelk maneuvered him to the nearest comfortable seating- the couch- and asked him what the hell he was still standing by the doorway for Mega weakly signed, [You told me to stay there.].

Zelk measured his temperature without another word while Mega's eyes were shut tightly during the encounter, only opening when Zelk asked, to see if his eyes were pink. They were not. Still the same dark brown he knew and loved. His temperature was a whooping 101, which had Zelk opening his mouth to yell only to shut when he saw Mega instinctively flinch and look down in shame. Scolding him would be stupid in this situation, and he didn't think he could handle being strict to Mega. Not now.

"Can you walk?" He asked, stroking Mega's cheek and only now noticing the flushed look.

[Walk? What am I, weak? Of course I can walk.] The sign said. Zelk didn't believe it for a second.

"Alright, if you can walk the whole way to your room with your eyes closed, I'll give you ten dollars." Mega's posture straightened a little at the sound of money.

[I wasn't planning on opening them anyway.] He retorted and scooted towards the edge of the couch. Zelk stood up and waited next to him, smiling softly as the other stood up and wobbled almost instantly. He made it to the edge of the living room (Five whole steps) before his legs gave up on him, buckling and sending him straight for the ground if Zelk wasn't there to catch the smaller.

"I'm cruel, I know." He said softly, ignoring the pit of worry when Mega didn't even sign back; only sighing and letting his body weight rest completely on Zelk. Luckily, the taller was smart enough to pick him up and carry him, the rest of the way to his bedroom.

"You are so lucky I love you and am not chewing you out right now." he murmured when they stepped into his room. When he set Mega down and ran to his room to get Mega's pajamas, he could've sworn he heard a tiny whimper at the loss, but he wasn't quite sure, so he shrugged it off. He laughed quietly though when he returned and found Mega curled up in a ball, hand hanging over his eyes trying to block out the light.

"Hah- Mega? I'm back. Listen, I need you to change into something more comfortable okay? You're going to stay in bed until you get better. I'm going to stay with you too, but you need to change by yourself." Zelk blushed a little at the words. "I got your pajamas, knock if you need anything."

He neatly laid out all his clothes and closed the door behind him. He then proceeded to find all the cuddle things in the shared apartment they had. Stuffed animals, blankets, pillows, his own hoodies, you name it and Zelk found it and gathered it in front of his door. It was honestly one of the sweetest thing he's ever done for Mega he thinks...other than smother him with kisses every day. He made his specialty: a cup of hot chocolate and made a piece of toast with butter and garlic as well. Garlic was always tasty to Mega although he himself never understood the benefit of it other than it burns out sickness. At least it was helpful now he decided, grabbing the snack tray and heading up the stairs to his room.

The cuddle equipment previously stuffed in the hallway was now gone, and he expected that Mega had grabbed it and gone off to make his own fort without him. He was indefinitely surprised when he entered the room to see all the blankets and hoodies neatly folded, pillows stacked, and stuffed animals lined up. Mega was in the center of it all on his bed sleepily drifting off while sitting up. Zelk carefully set down the snacks on his nightstand and knocked on the wood on his bed to signal to Mega that he had arrived.

[I'm awake.] Was the first sign that he read. The second was, [I didn't want to start without you.] He dimmed the lights and shut the window drapes before heading over to his bed. The mute seemed so tired that he could barely sign, but Zelk decided that he should at least give him this, so he played along, sitting down in front of Mega and whispered his ideas to him. The smaller nodded along, but his eyes constantly flickered open and closed, sometimes staying closed for multiple minutes. Eventually, Zelk made the decision for him, and set up the fort so that everything was accommodating to the poor boy.

He quietly pulled him into his lap and leaned against the bed for support. "Mega you really need to work on your communication skills mister." He joked, aware that the other would probably not hear or acknowledge him. He was proven wrong when said person shifted so he could properly bury his head into Zelk's neck.

[Ha ha, very funny.] Was traced onto his chest. And Zelk laughed, not because it was funny, but because he had gotten Mega to laugh when he was sick and miserable, and in all honesty, that was definitely a win in his book.

\--

A few days later, Zelk spent an entire hour scolding Mega for keeping him in the dark about getting sick, and the other sat there and took it, because in all honesty: he totally had it coming.


	12. Poisonous Snowdrops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Literally this entire one-shot is just Mega being conflicted because he doesn't know how to love someone.

Request: @Alexis_moontalons (You are a legend for coming up with all of these ideas bro- thank you <3 I hope this was a little like what you wanted ^^)

Again, credits to @Faded-Red they are also literal **_god_** I swear- Go check them out pls, oki thank you

This is an AU of SoulSeeking, and to comply with the request we’re going to have the two go through the process of meeting each other and Zelk recruiting Mega already. Mega just has really hard to access emotions because writing emotionless characters is _so_ hard Faded how do you do it- (Skeppy, a6d, Bad, and Dream haven’t encountered them at all)

Also, because we demand it: Zelk and Mega are soulmates. (ZelkPvP is food for my own soul. If your soulmate is hurt, you would see it in the form of flowers on their body and some actual blood there too).

I wanted to add that none of the stuff I write from Faded’s AU is canon- just for the record.

\--

Zelk likes to keep his forest in order.

It was a known fact, considering it earned said forest a deathly myth for a background.

So, sometime in winter when he was going for a walk to see what was happening, he felt something strange. Sensing the lifeforms in the forest was a little knack he mastered early on in his job as a guardian. So, what in the world was faintly pulsing at the very edge? It was flickering, a sign of pain.

Immediately setting off in that direction to find out what it was, Zelk was partly excited, and partly dreading what was to come when he saw the splatters of blood trailing around in a vague zig-zag pattern. (There were some odd flower sprouting around them too, wonder what that’s about?)

Did that come from the entity? How did they manage to get in and out without him noticing? Did they mean harm? Too many questions, and they all needed to be answered. They were vital to protect what he had to, right? What hurt this being anyway? Zelk was so infatuated with the fact that this being that his focus was slowly narrowing itself to only the little ball of light that represented its existence.

Glittering snow fell off branches as he walked. He doesn’t know if that’s his feelings, affecting his surroundings or just gravity doing its work. He doesn’t care because a prick of unsettlement worms its way into his chest. He had been walking for a decent amount of time, and the blood was only getting fresher and more plentiful. If Zelk was being honest, he had absolutely no clue why he was more worried rather then questioning their threat to him and his forest.

Wait.

This could be a trap! Oh, that would make _so_ much more sense, it was the one thing he was missing from this puzzle. Lure the guardian out of his forest, with a blood trail so you can injure him and proceed to do whatever you want to his territory. Yeah, that’s not happening, not today. A cheap trick and he wouldn’t fall for it.

But now, the question falls to what was he going to _do_ about it? Should he ignore it? Let the thing die? Or, should he keep following it? Continue with caution? Maybe even…help…it? Weird. Why was he giving this decision so much thought? Never before had he felt so strongly the urge to save something he didn’t know.

He wanted to make an offhand comment to himself that the crimson looked exquisite on the pure white snow, but he let it go in favor of the fact that he disagreed with the particular statement. Maybe it was the entity that was hurt itself casting some sort of wacky spell, but seeing their blood scattered on the forest floor, fresh as ever and slowly turning a darker maroon felt _wrong_. It felt out of place and irregular, as if someone were to stick a rock in a smoothly working cog machine. Even if it was crushed by the metal, it still interrupted the process for a little.

…

Fuck it.

Zelk continued down the path formed by the liquid and cursed himself in his mind for being so impulsive.

What was he going to do once he- Wait a second… where the hell was his fae? _Where_ was Mega?

And in that moment of impulse Zelk put two and two together and sprinted headfirst towards the line of trees at the border of his forest. Everything was going off the rails in his mind and somewhere in the mess, a part of his conscious yelled at him “What if it’s really a trap and Mega’s fine? Your entire life’s work for the fae? Really?”. He ignored it.

Please don’t be him.

_Please_ don’t be him.

He finally burst through the border, snow fluttering around him at the disturbance. Then, he stopped, chest heaving shallow breaths and breathed out three words.

“Holy fucking shit,”

Zelk didn’t believe in soulmates really. It was all made up nonsense the humans created so their love lives were more special. Whenever he thought of the concept, it never occurred once to him that it could apply to him. Imagine what a tragedy that would turn out to be. An immortal guardian tied to a mortal being that would die in the coming years anyway. “I love you!” They would shout and then get stabbed through the heart by the curse of being able to die. It never occurred to Zelk that it could be a fellow deity themselves. (Though he wouldn’t give Mega _that_ much credit-) It 100% did _not_ occur to him that he would find out who it was by seeing them passed out in the snow outside his forest, covered in their own and other’s blood. Especially in the midst of what looked like a massacre of humans, all with artillery and fire. It looked like an entire fucking army actually.

Did he mention that it was Mega? Because he thinks that’s pretty goddamn important. His wounds were covered with albino flowers hunched over like they had broken spines; all of them speckled with the infamous red liquid he’d been following. He blew out a breath of air again and noticed how he could see it in front of him. Could Mega wear himself out? ... possibly? Fae’s can’t just do that right?

Okay, one thing at a time.

**One**: Mega is his soulmate, which he just now figured out actually existed.

**Two**: Apparently the mortals decided they were going to try and mount an attack on his forest by sending what looked like three to four _battalions_ to either go through or destroy his forest; Mega was the one who stopped them by killing them all.

**Three**: Mega is passed out on the ground bleeding like there’s no tomorrow, and he can’t heal him because he’s fae.

Cool. _Great_, actually. He needed to do something, and he needed to do something quick, because when he kneeled down gently to hoist Mega’s limp body he winced at the flickering almost stopping completely. The flowers on him were pretty… in the dangerous sort of way. He didn’t know what kind of flower they were, but he concluded that by the time he had Mega in a fairly stable condition, he would definitely have it under wraps. Right now, he had priorities: getting his fae someplace safe so he could regenerate without disturbance.

After carefully turning Mega’s body over and imagining what a disaster it would be if he tried to have him lean on his shoulder, he settled on picking him up and cradling him next to his chest as he pushed through the forest. His body was ice cold and Zelk was having a very hard time trying to not freak out because his lifeforce was _still_ flickering and it was not giving him any comfort.

If he was looking back on the situation, Zelk would’ve been taken aback at the fact that the constant jostling of the other didn’t seem to have him react in any way, shape or form. At one point, Zelk fully jumped over a fallen tree (He panicked for a second before remembering the huge snowstorm a few days ago, somehow brought lightning with it and struck it down.) and Mega had shaken so hard from his grasp that he gently bonked his flower infested forehead on his shoulder. It would’ve hurt like a bitch if he was mortal.

When Zelk dashed past one of his helpers approaching him, he only yelled back behind him a shaky reassurance that everything was fine, and they shouldn’t worry because their home was safe. That only backfired and caused more of them to follow resulting in a wild chase of animals trailing behind a very concerned elk carrying a suspiciously weird creature. Zelk never thinks he’ll understand why forest critters were so put off by Mega’s aura. He just assumes that they’re overly sensitive to it.

The slightly startling realization that dawned on him when he finally reached the clearing that he usually met up with Mega in was that he actually had no idea how to help the fae heal himself. Sure, keeping up with the requirements of the form one took was essential, but how was he supposed to get Mega to drink, let alone _eat_ anything while he was practically disassociating from reality?!

At least the first step was to get him cleaned up. He effortlessly reached out and neatly produced a cot of roots and soft leaves to lay the other on while he went out to figure out a way to clean the blood off of him. Turning around, he was met with the sight of about three dozen worth of forest creatures gathered in a tight circle all carrying the heavy scent and aura of worry.

“I- Guys, everything- everything is _fine_,” he wheezed out, probably because he had to _run_ all the way there. It was a far distance!

“I uh- Can one of you get something for me to wash the blood off of him please?” A group of nearby rabbits nodded and scurried off towards what he assumed was the nearest water source. Once they had left, Zelk cast a side glance at the still body. Thank god fae’s heal quickly; his light was much more stable, barley flickering as much as it had at the border. He wasn’t necessarily worried, but the anxiety levels of seeing Mega covered in flowers speckled with blood was just…_too_ high.

He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when the rabbits had returned, the group gingerly balancing a hollow shell filled with water, and a few clumps of moss. He never understood the human custom of using sponges. He thought they looked weird and gross especially once they were wet. What really, was the point of destroying a piece of ocean coral just so you can have something that you can dye and has one or two more uses then the original thing? Again, _weird_.

He took the items from them, nodding a thank you and rushed back to the cot in the middle. Taking his time, Zelk carefully maneuvered the water around each of the flowers, cleaning in-between the roots that seemed to break skin. After finishing the first couple of flowers he nodded to himself, proud of himself that he managed to scrub the staining red down to a fairly dull maroon. On the other hand, not looking at the medical perspective, cleaning the wounds also gave him an excuse to examine the flowers more closely.

For white flowers, it wasn’t their most defining feature. Most flowers like these were considered rare after all. It was actually the long green stems that caught Zelk’s attention. Instead of the bud growing were the stem was starting to curve, it’s white petals almost _hunched_ over Mega’s injuries. It was like they were protecting him from seeing the possibly horrific flesh that could’ve been exposed. Although Zelk thinks that Mega would have never gotten hurt that badly before…however, he’s never actually seen Mega’s skin draw blood before so he wouldn’t be in the right place to assume. He would’ve known that the fae was his soulmate a long time ago if that were the case.

Before he knew it, he looked down to see that the body that was once covered in flowers was almost completely clean. Obviously Mega’s cloak was stained immensely but Zelk thinks he’d throw himself off an open cliff before taking his clothes. The mere thought of the embarrassment made him shudder. The light representing Mega was now shining brightly now only pulsating every now and then at a steady beat. At least that’s good.

The adrenaline rush he felt earlier was now cooling down and after watching the few flowers left slowly but surely shrink down back into nothingness, he felt the animals around them get closer and cautiously poke around Mega’s still form.

“Guys, if he wakes up, he’s going to skewer you for sitting on him,” He warned an especially brave bird that managed to fly directly on the fae’s nose and gently chirping out a small tune. It was a blue jay, very pretty feathers he’d admit.

He shook his head. Getting off topic. The topic he has to focus on now that he’s done practically all he could is that Mega…is his soulmate. Like, romantically inclined to be with him in a romantic relationship because the world thought it would be funny to prove Zelk-the-immortal-that-has-a-very-big-ego-wrong. His eyes wandered to where a group of about five ferrets were now playfully playing with the ends of Mega’s cape. Their furry little bodies were bumping into one another as they batted at each other with their paws. They even went as far as to encourage some squirrels- who were eyeing the area around Mega with suspicion- to join in as well. He chuckled softly.

“Seriously, don’t tell me I didn’t warn you,” He said, and folded his arms in front of him to keep an eye on Mega from the corner of his eye. Can fae even have feelings? _Emotions_? He didn’t think so. He learned that his species were known to be extremely cold hearted and not even be capable of intense feelings. Love’s a pretty intense feeling Zelk thinks. He almost laughed again as he sees that even though the universe pointed him towards a soulmate- and he could agree with them on the person- it just so happens that they’re an emotionless fae.

“I probably deserve this for trash talking the human’s stupid soulmate shit,” He mumbled into his elbow. Who was he even talking to? Mega was _unconscious_. Wait, was he even going to tell the other? Surely not…right? But if he did then would Mega even know what he’s talking about? DID FAE’S HAVE SOULMATES??? Zelk’s head legitimately hurt with how many burning questions he had.

He needed a plan. That way he can map out what he was going to do. Okay, step one: Wait until Mega wakes up. Step two: Find out what view Mega had on the soulmates concept. Step three: Tell him that you guys are soulmates and if he doesn’t believe you, cut yourself. Now what? That was fairly quick.

He raised his head enough to ask his helpers if they could wake him up if anything would change in the forest. When they agreed, he sent out a final check to survey and came up with the absolute miracle that no one had entered the forest. Thank god, he hadn’t taken a good nap in a goddamn millennium. The last thing he did before he closed his eyes and settle down, head comfortable nestled in his arms was thank the critters that agreed to wake him up. They were lifesavers sometimes.

\--

When Mega woke up he did not expect to be on a cot with Zelk asleep next to him, antlers poking his leg. He jerked up and looked around trying to find the wounds he had felt while fighting that stupid army of humans. God they were _such_ a pain to deal with. He yawned, ears tipping back to touch his head. The last time he had gotten a rest was when? Fae’s didn’t need sleep anyway…or maybe they did, he didn’t actually know. Never tried.

He felt a weight on his legs though- How were three ferrets _sleeping_ on his legs? Weren’t they afraid of his intense aura or something? There was a bird on his head too…he felt it. Knowing he couldn’t just stab them through right away, he decided to awaken their guardian to give them a chance to run. Only the higher being of this world will know what will happen if he injured one of Zelk’s helpers on purpose.

He reached out and shook Zelk’s shoulder.

[Hey, I need an explanation. Right now.] The person in question shot up like a bullet and stared blearily at him before realizing who was…”talking”

“Hm? Mega? Shit. Guys, get off of him before he skewers you!” The guardian called out to the ferrets on the fae. They simultaneously opened their eyes but took an obnoxiously long time stretching and yawning before finally hopping off Mega’s legs.

[Explain. Now.] The elk followed suit with the ferrets and stretched his arms up in the air before rubbing his eyes and sighing.

“Where do you want me to start, my own questionnaire or when I found you passed out in the snow covered in…blood?” Why did he hesitate before saying blood? Mega should’ve known really, the fae were actually _very_ dedicated to the soulmate system. But he was too busy trying to understand why Zelk had questions for him. Maybe he underestimated his ability to use his brain.

[Let’s begin with the fact that I was _unconscious_, not “passed out”-]

“Literally same thing Mega,” He snickered. A glare.

“Continue,”

[I was _saying_, I had worn myself out. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a good fight, but they had a shit ton of those stupid automated things that throw things. Of course, I stopped them so I wouldn’t have _you_ on my ass and well, guess what that cost me?] He ranted crossing his arms and flicking his ears, quite irritated at the fact that he actually…well, passed out. He could’ve been hurt at any moment but he…wasn’t. He’d give props to Zelk if he didn’t know that he needed him for something.

When he looked back at the other, his eyes seemed zoned out. In a faraway world known as _thoughts_.

[Are you even listening to me?] He asked.

The other was still staring at some random spot in the trees surrounding them when he muttered,

“Do fae’s believe in the soulmate system?”

It was completely random and out of proportion in Mega’s opinion.

[Why should you know?] He narrowed his eyes, trying to find some sort of malice in the words.

“It intrigues me,” Was the answer he got. A few seconds passed in which Mega thought it over. It wouldn’t _hurt_ him if he told the guardian would it? Racking his mind for a reason why such a bizarre question would be asked, he saw Zelk’s eyes clouded with concentration. Perhaps he’s thinking of a way to trick him into doing something.

…

[You could say that.] He says tentatively.

[We treat it as if it’s the only thing the Universe gives us that ties us with every other creature in existence.] Depending on how well you knew how fae’s act, that could be interpreted two different ways.

“Alright…well I’m going to do something, and you can do what you will with what you take away from it,” Mega frowned.

[_What_ are you on about?] He demanded, getting ready to simply leave right there because forget him passing out, Zelk’s ambiguous shenanigans were starting to get on his nerves. Why was he getting frustrated anyway? Was it because he had almost “died” and Zelk was going on about fucking soulmates? Because he didn’t seem…_worried_? No. No, of course not. What kind of reason is that?

Then, in front of him, Zelk cute a thin line on his finger with a sharp stick he’d conjured. And of course, instead of blood, a beautiful white rose came spilling out of it. It was unlike any flower he’d ever seen. Milky white petals almost made the color come off as gentle rather than cold, like he was used to. Delicate and elegant at the same time, it waved in the air like it was taunting him. He blinked, and Zelk stared at him with a gaze that seemed so exasperated he felt lost. Oh yes, he had to say something.

[You cut you finger,] Mega said dumbly.

“Yes. It does seem that I have injured myself to the point of-“

[I get your point,] He cut him off. Too many things were happening at once. He woke up from exerting a stupid amount of power and now Zelk was his…soulmate?

Soulmate.

_They_ were soulmates. An immortal guardian of a forest and a creature from a different world were soulmates.

“Can you tell me what you see, so I know I’m not going insane?” Zelk broke the silence that stretched for a few seconds. There was no way around this. Soulmates were a very strict rule to try and bend. He could actually be expelled- Did he even _want_ to bend it?

…

What kind of question is _that_? Of course, he’d want to break it! He doesn’t want to be _stuck_ with- but would it be stuck? Or would it be stay? One willing, one not. He breathed in. He was doing this because he didn’t want to become a fae without a court. He was _not_ doing this because suddenly the most dormant side of him that was affectionate was waking up. And he was most absolutely _not_ doing this because the antlered person in front of him seemed like they needed a place to situate themselves. Not sympathy…or pity.

[A white rose,] He muttered. No backing out. Mega never thought he was an impulsive person, but something tugged him to accept it. No…that was implying he was against it to begin with. In which…he…was? Sort of- no entirely? When did he get all these feelings to worry about?? What was _wrong_ with him?

Zelk exhaled and rubbed his temples slowly, ignoring Mega’s raised eyebrow.

“Alright, so we are-”

[Do not say it,]

“But you agree that this happening between us right now, right?” Mega frowned.

[An odd way to phrase that, but yes,]

“O-kay…” They sat in silence for what seemed like too much time to pass by.

“I think,” Zelk started. “I will leave the decision in your hands, because I have no fucking idea what to do,” He had no idea what he was doing, he could only hope that Mega knew something he didn’t.

Unfortunately for him, the other was actually having the existential crisis Zelk was having before he went to sleep. Questioning his feelings towards the guardian only to blame the natural urges soulmates are told to have to protect one another, wondering what other fae’s of his court are going to say in response to his predicament, the whole shebang. Zelk was lucky to have had the opportunity to have his in peace and quiet; Mega had to have his in front of his soulmate and millions of his little critter friends.

[You think I know what to do?!] Mega raised his voice towards the end staring daggers through him.

[You-you think me a _fae_ will know what to do when they find who their soulmate is?!]

The word struck a chord in the both of them. Made them still as they mulled over the idea. _Soulmates_. For Mega, one of the most dangerous rules to break. To disobey the work of the universe itself. For Zelk, the thing he didn’t believe existed for most of the time he was alive. A complete shock to hear it spoken out loud. Not in theory or thought.

Zelk got his bearings together first and spoke shakily. Not weak, or scared. More disbelief and wobbly because of the true gravity that meant that he and Mega were bound together forever, and _not_ like the bond with being an anchor to one another.

“Yeah…? I assume your kind have at least taught you guys about what soulmates do once they figure out each other. I didn’t exactly believe they were _real_ up until now; thought they were a human myth they came up with to make themselves feel better about finding someone they loved-” And he cut himself off because suddenly saying the word ‘love’ around Mega felt weird. A _good_ weird. Like, he could say it and the other would laugh and say it back…? Shit, what the actual fuck was happening. Overwhelming feelings, that’s what.

Mega, across from him was also having similar problems. This was a problem. This was a problem, because his feelings were genuine. Just… pushed. Take a flower growing for example. It growing take time and care, but this soulmate thing was speeding up the process of the flower growing. Causing its original structure to spiral out of control in confusion.

[Do you _feel_ that?] Mega asked. What else was he supposed to do? He needed to get a grip on himself and if this situation was about soulmates, then was he just supposed to _ignore_ the guardian spacing out in front of him?

“Yes, it feels so _weird_. Like, ugh- too fast. Too sudden,”

[Exactly, that’s-] Mega took a breath to steel himself. Ground himself.

[Okay, okay- Explanations: soulmates in the fae courts are treated with respect and state that the subject must…_accept_ the decision the universe has created for them, no matter… the opinion,] He grit his teeth together and shot a scathing glare at the other, but it fell short because for some reason, things he’d done so _easily_before were so much harder now. Annoyingly so.

Zelk stayed quiet for a moment, letting the information sink in for a minute and then said probably the worst thing he could’ve.

“So, your courts say that you _have_ to be in a relationship with me even though you’d be against it?” Mega’s eye twitched, and his rapier was pointed at Zelk’s neck in a millisecond.

[Do **not **word it like that,] He spat venomously. Zelk seemed unfazed, and cast his gaze over to his finger, who was closing up its own wound. The guardian didn’t seem to notice that Mega’s hand was trembling, because who knew it was so hard to threaten your soulmate?

“I’ll make you a deal,”

[A deal?]

“You seem to have no choice, so how about we give it a shot? The soulmate thing- I mean,” Zelk could not believe the words coming out of his mouth, but when a part of his mind screamed at him to keep going, he shrugged off the feeling of cold water being poured down his spine.

“We give it a shot, and I won’t do anything to make you uncomfortable,” Mega’s rapier lowered and when Zelk looked up to see why, he was shocked at the pure hesitation and conflict in the other’s eyes. He didn’t think it would work, but the weapon returned to his side and silence overtook the clearing. Tension.

[What…?] Zelk huffed in irritation, but he noticed. For a few seconds, a sliver of disbelief and…hope…? That what he thinks it was. Whatever it was, he heard it flash in the tone Mega used.

“I said-” 

[I know what you said idiot,] He snapped.

[What do you want in return for…that? There is no such thing as a one-sided deal,] Zelk frowned. Mega’s implying that he would take it, if he told him what he wanted…which was actually nothing. He wouldn’t believe him if he said that though… A mischievous grin found its way on his lips.

“You have to go along with some of the things I do,” He laughed, eager to see Mega’s reaction. Expectedly, he received a glare of annoyance and the driest tone followed.

[I swear- _what_ kinds of things may I ask?] Zelk’s grin widened, showing how even in the more pressuring situations, the guardian knew how to twist a few things in his favor.

“Like…protecting me, me protecting _you_, hugs, holding ha-”

[**Shut up**] Mega hissed, and rubbed his temples, praying that this idiot wasn’t serious.

[How would I…_protect_ you when I’m struggling not to kill you right now?] On the word protect, he practically gagged, but he made an effort to keep going. Zelk shrugged and waved his staff that he just manifested from thin air, tracing hearts and stars into the sky.

“I dunno, you figure it out. Up for it?” One. Two. Three seconds of the bird on Mega’s head _still_ nesting itself in his hair and how had it not flown off already?! The answer to that would be that Mega’s usual aura of ‘stay away from me I’m dangerous’ turned into ‘holy fucking shit your stupid guardian is my goddamn soulmate’.

Besides the point however, Mega’s mind was busy turning into a melting pile of goop. Most of him telling him: “Take it, he’s your soulmate, what’s he going to do to hurt you? You can’t hurt him, he can’t hurt you,” The other part, the one he had longer and not affected by whatever was compelling him to actually consider Zelk’s offer, told him: “What the fuck. No don’t take his offer are you insane??”

What ended up making the final decision was the flower. Zelk hadn’t healed his wound, so Mega tried to look somewhere else to clear his thoughts only to have them drawn to the silky white rose, a little more withered now that some time had passed from when blood had been first spilt. A surge of anger rushed through him and he was almost about to get up and look for whatever caused that cursed flower to appear until he remembered that Zelk was the one to do it himself. Frustration at it grew even more because in Mega’s opinion, it was just…_wrong_. It felt as if the presence of that stupid white rose on Zelk’s skin was _tainting _it. He had to fix that.

[…_fine_,] He muttered. Zelk’s gaze turned sharply at him.

“Seriously?” Mega narrowed his eyes, making sure to scoot a little further away from the guardian.

[Don’t make me regret my decision. I just don’t want to leave this world without completing my mission first,] Then, the bird decided that it had had enough of the two idiots dancing around each other and grabbed Zelk by the sleeve and dragged his arm over to where Mega could see the flower. They knew what he wanted. Zelk didn’t, and it was starting to get annoying.

“Yo, what-” The flower disappeared. Mega’s hand was a few centimeters from where the petals were, and the wound was closed up all the way.

[It was getting on my nerves,] Zelk stared at the blank spot in amazement. The shock passed, and the guardian quickly snaked his way around, so his face was right in front of the other’s. An absurd red blush flew over Mega’s face and he was slapped away.

[I- I’ve had enough of this, let’s just _go_ and-] Zelk giggled, his laugh representing the one a child would make.

“C’moooon, Mega~ I just wanna hold your haaaand,” He whined, picking himself back up from where he was knocked back. The most irritated sigh Zelk had ever heard was thrown into the air.

[If I do that, will you, Shut. Up. About the- the-]

“Soulmates thing?” He offered softly, finding it actually adorable how Mega stuttered over mentioning something that had to do with _affection_.

[Yes. If I do will you shut up about that?] An owlish blink and a smile.

“Yes. Yes, I will for the sake of your face getting any redder,” Mega hissed at him in the way a cat would and stuck his hand out elegantly. Zelk deemed that if there was a word that meant an oxymoron as an action, that would be especially helpful in describing the way Mega looked so conflicted. He took pity on the fae and decided that he should spare him a little embarrassment for the other and linked their pinkies together.

Mega’s mind short circuited when that happened but he managed to mask it by asking where they would go next and Zelk simply tugged him towards a big tree where he let Mega admire the sunset. Surprising really, that he was able to be fascinated by the orange, yellow, pink and purple formed in the sky, but it still made Zelk’s heart die a little inside anyway.

By the time the sunset was over, Mega managed to muster enough courage to hold Zelk’s whole hand and the guardian decided that that was enough. Especially when the real win was how he managed to get Mega to lean his head on his shoulder.

\----

Bonus: **(This was supposed to be another branch the story was supposed to go, but I thought it escalated too quickly and Zelk being that shaken up about thinking Soulmates not existing seemed ooc for me)******

[A white rose,] He muttered. No backing out. Mega never thought he was an impulsive person, but something tugged him to accept it. No…that was implying he was against it to begin with. In which…he…was? Sort of- no entirely? When did he get all these feelings to worry about?? What was _wrong_ with him?

Out of nowhere, Zelk stood up and threw the stick he used across the field. And screamed. Very loudly.

Mega was tempted to just freeze him and make a contract with someone else so he could finish his stupid mission from the queen until he was that Zelk’s hand which was now holding his staff was trembling.

[What the actual fuck?] He asked, in some way genuinely curious to know what drove the other into a nutcase basket. Zelk didn’t reply. Instead, took a few shaky breaths and leaned heavily on his staff.

“Sorry- sorry I don’t know what that was. I- I’m kinda in shock that this is possible right now just- give me a second,” Mega only stared because now, the animals were back in full alarm. All they’re eyes narrowed down to slits starring daggers at him. I mean, how easy is it to draw a conclusion when you hear a scream and come back to see your protector bleeding from his finger with a person you never really trusted just…_sitting_ there?

Yeah, pretty hard not to.

[Are you having what the humans call a breakdown?] He questioned.

“Fuck- um, no? I don’t think so? I-”

Mega stayed silent through the whole even of Zelk muttering words under his breath to calm down. It wasn’t as if he could do anything about it. Didn’t stop him from feeling weird though. The part of him that was okay with Zelk being his soulmate was screaming at him to go and help the poor guardian. Mega just didn’t have enough experience or know how on how to…_comfort_ the elk.

When Zelk finally got a grip and turned to look at him, Mega saw right through the act put on. His eyes were filled with only panic. Pure panic, and Mega took a deep breath and stood shakily to walk over to him. Zelk rushed to help him but the fae only swatted him away with a hiss.

[I’m fine. Give me your hand, I want to see the flower,] Zelk almost flinched at the words. He was too fragile.

Out of nowhere, Zelk stood up and threw the stick he used across the field. And screamed. Very loudly.

Mega was tempted to just freeze him and make a contract with someone else so he could finish his stupid mission from the queen until he was that Zelk’s hand which was now holding his staff was trembling.

[What the actual fuck?] He asked, in some way genuinely curious to know what drove the other into a nutcase basket. Zelk didn’t reply. Instead, took a few shaky breaths and leaned heavily on his staff.

“Sorry- sorry I don’t know what that was. I- I’m kinda in shock that this is possible right now just- give me a second,” Mega only stared because now, the animals were back in full alarm. All they’re eyes narrowed down to slits starring daggers at him. I mean, how easy is it to draw a conclusion when you hear a scream and come back to see your protector bleeding from his finger with a person you never really trusted just…_sitting_ there?

Yeah, pretty hard not to.

[Are you having what the humans call a breakdown?] He questioned.

“Fuck- um, no? I don’t think so? I-”

Mega stayed silent through the whole even of Zelk muttering words under his breath to calm down. It wasn’t as if he could do anything about it. Didn’t stop him from feeling weird though. The part of him that was okay with Zelk being his soulmate was screaming at him to go and help the poor guardian. Mega just didn’t have enough experience or know how on how to…_comfort_ the elk.

When Zelk finally got a grip and turned to look at him, Mega saw right through the act put on. His eyes were filled with only panic. Pure panic, and Mega took a deep breath and stood shakily to walk over to him. Zelk rushed to help him but the fae only swatted him away with a hiss.

[I’m fine. Give me your hand, I want to see the flower,] Zelk almost flinched at the words. He was too fragile.


End file.
